University of Georgia researcher helps discover compound that could ease pain of people with shingles

E-Mail Print Correction or suggestion?

A compound with the potential to be more effective than existing agents in treating the painful blisters known as shingles has been discovered by researchers at the University of Georgia and Yale University.

According to a UGA report, shingles is a condition that affects up to 30 percent of Americans, mostly elderly, and for which no specific treatment exists.

Rights to the anti-shingles agent called L-BHDA have been licensed to Bukwang Pharmaceutical Company for preclinical investigations by the University of Georgia Research Foundation and Yale.

Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV).

"We need new options for medications with increased potency and specificity that can treat VCV, including strains that may be resistant to existing drugs," said Chung Chu, distinguished professor of pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences at Georgia and one of the inventors of L-BHDA.

Source: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com