THERAPEUTIC MARKETS

Herpes Labialis

Herpes labialis, also called orofacial herpes, or cold sores is most often caused by Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 (HSV1). It is estimated that up to 90 percent of the U.S. population is seropositive, representing prior infection with the HSV1 virus. Approximately 30 percent of those infected with the virus suffer from recurrent herpes labialis, defined as four herpetic episodes each year, on average, resulting in 360 million recurrent herpetic episodes each year. For the 90 million Americans with recurrent herpes labialis, these painful infections represent a persistent, embarrassing and highly contagious problem.

From the onset of symptoms, which can include a tingling sensation or pain, the typical life cycle of a cold sore outbreak is between seven to 14 days. In order to reduce the healing time of a lesion, it is critical to rapidly deliver an effective dose of antiviral medication as early as possible to the affected area. Currently available treatments are unable to achieve adequate drug concentrations in the affected area in a timely manner resulting in lack of palpable efficacy.

These treatments reduce healing times from approximately one-half day to one and one half days against a natural course of five to 14 days. These results are not meaningful to most patients. Despite the general ineffectiveness of available treatments, the current market for oral herpes treatment is conservatively estimated to be approximately $500 million.

The availability of a painless, easy to use, single-treatment product such as SoloVir™ ETS that would reduce healing times, and prevent early stage lesions from progressing to classic lesions, may induce a much greater proportion of patients to choose medical intervention.

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