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VivaGel Presented at Herpes Management Forum


Starpharma Presents On Vivagel At 14th Annual Meeting Of The International Herpes ManagementForum

Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX:SPL, OTCQX:SPHRY) will today present an invited lecture at the 14th Annual Meeting of the International Herpes Management Forum (IHMF) in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Starpharma's presentation will focus on the development of SPL7013 Gel (VivaGel) for the prevention of genital herpes and HIV. In addition, the presentation will highlight the fact that HSV-2, the virus that causes genital herpes, is highly prevalent globally, with 50-70% of HIV negative women in sub-Saharan Africa, and 22% of sexually active adults in the US infected.

It is estimated that by 2025, 40-50% of women in the U.S. will be infected with HSV-2. Genital herpes is a recurrent, lifelong viral infection, and is the most common cause of genital ulcer disease. Importantly, HSV-2 infection has been shown to increase the risk of both HIV acquisition and transmission through sexual intercourse. It has been estimated that 30-50% of all new HIV infections in Africa are directly due to HSV-2.

A key aim of the meeting is to develop international recommendations and guidelines on the management of herpes virus infections, and topical microbicides such as Starpharma's VivaGel, will play a key role in prevention of genital herpes.

The epidemiological data highlights the fact that VivaGel, if shown to be effective in reducing the risk of HSV-2 infection, could potentially have a significant impact on the incidence of HIV infection.

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"We are very pleased to have the opportunity to profile VivaGel at an international scientific meeting of this calibre," Starpharma CEO Dr Jackie Fairley said.

VivaGel is being developed as a topical vaginal microbicide for the prevention of HIV and genital herpes, and is currently under investigation in healthy female volunteers in two separate expanded safety clinical trials at sites in the U.S. and Kenya. VivaGel also shows promise as a contraceptive agent.

ENDS

About Starpharma:

Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX:SPL, OTCQX:SPHRY) is a world leader in the development of dendrimer nanotechnology for pharmaceutical, life-science and other applications. SPL is principally composed of two operating companies, Starpharma Pty Ltd in Melbourne, Australia and Dendritic Nanotechnologies, Inc in Michigan, USA. Products based on SPL's dendrimer technology are already on the market in the form of diagnostic elements and laboratory reagents.

The Company's lead pharmaceutical development product is VivaGel (SPL7013 Gel), a vaginal microbicide designed to prevent the transmission of STIs, including HIV and genital herpes.

In the pharmaceutical field Starpharma has additional specific programs in the areas of Drug Delivery and ADME Engineering(tm) (using dendrimers to control where and when drugs go when introduced to the body), Polyvalency (using the fact that dendrimers can activate multiple receptors simultaneously) and Targeted Diagnostics (using dendrimers as a scaffold to which both location-signalling and targeting groups are added to allow location of specific cell type, such as cancer cells).

More broadly the company is exploring dendrimer opportunities in materials science with applications as diverse as adhesives, lubricants and water remediation.

SPL has a comprehensive IP portfolio that comprises more than 180 patents/applications issued and pending across 32 patent families - a unique level of IP concentration among nanotechnology companies.

Dendrimers: A type of precisely-defined, branched nanoparticle. Dendrimers have applications in the medical, electronics, chemicals and materials industries.

Microbicides: A microbicide inactivates, kills or destroys microbes such as viruses and bacteria. Microbicides may be formulated as gels, creams, sponges, suppositories or films with the purpose of reducing significantly the incidence of STIs. They are intended for vaginal or rectal use to afford protection for varying periods, from several hours up to days. Microbicides may also be designed to have a contraceptive function.

American Depositary Receipts (ADRs): Starpharma's ADRs trade under the code SPHRY (CUSIP number 855563102). Each Starpharma ADR is equivalent to 10 ordinary shares of Starpharma as traded on the Australian Stock Exchange. The Bank of New York Mellon is the depositary bank. Starpharma's ADRs are listed on International OTCQX (www.otcqx.com), a premium market tier in the U.S. for international exchange-listed companies, operated by Pink Sheets, LLC.

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