On Monday, September 14, 2009, Dr. Balfour presented the preliminary results of our valomaciclovir for treatment of infectious mononucleosis (Mono 6) study as a “late breaker” advance at a major infectious diseases scientific meeting in San Francisco. In a nutshell, the 11 subjects who received the antiviral drug valomaciclovir got better faster than the 10 volunteers who were given placebo tablets, and the drug significantly reduced the amount of virus in the oral cavity. “A specific treatment for mono has great potential,” Balfour said, “because mono often results in several weeks of reduced productivity in school or the workplace and shortening that would be a great boon.” Also, mono is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which can produce serious disease in persons with weakened immunity, such as transplant recipients. “Development of this drug could be important to them,” he said, “because there are presently very few treatment options for EBV infections.”
However, valomaciclovir is still in the experimental stage. The number of subjects studied was small. The dose used was associated with nausea, which suggests that a lower dose or a different formulation may be needed to optimize effectiveness and safety.
Clinical Virology Programs at the University of Minnesota headed by Dr. Henry Balfour conducted this clinical trial. The researchers are now analyzing a mountain of clinical, viral, immune, and pharmacology data for the final medical report expected to be completed in December. Assisting Balfour in this clinical research project are pharmacology scientists Heather Vezina and Richard Brundage, immunologists Kristin Hogquist and Dare Odumade, and Boynton Health Service physician B. J. Anderson.
The results of the Mono 6 study were reported at the 49th annual ICAAC, which stands for Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Approximately 8,000 scientists from the U.S. and many other countries attended this conference.