Kimer Med signs contract with Battelle Memorial Institute to pioneer antiviral drug advances
Media Release Nelson, New Zealand – 8 March 2024 – Kimer Med, a Nelson biotech start-up, announced it has signed a contract valued at up to USD$750,000 (NZD$1.3 million) with…
Could a cure for CMV result in longer lifespans?
While standard antiviral therapies can suppress active viral replication, there’s no existing treatment that can eradicate latent infection, meaning there’s no cure for many prevalent viral diseases. Viral infection has…
NZ’s Pandemic Preparedness report – our assessment
New Zealand’s Infectious Disease Research Platform ‘Te Niwha’ has released a substantial report entitled “Likely future pandemic agents and scenarios: An epidemiological and public health framework”. The report was commissioned…
Understanding apoptosis: the natural process of cell self-destruction
Introduction: Apoptosis is a natural and necessary process that occurs in the human body. It is sometimes referred to as “programmed cell death” which is a helpful way to understand…
Kimer Med’s Rick Kiessig wins GEN NZ ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’
Nelson, New Zealand – 27 Oct 2023 – Kimer Med co-founder and CEO, Rick Kiessig, was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year at the GEN NZ 2023 Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Awards held…
The JC virus – common, harmless and sometimes, deadly
The JC virus is one of those viruses that you’ll probably never hear about, until you find it that it might kill you! The JC virus was identified in 1965,…
Flaviviruses are an increasing threat to public health
Flaviviruses are a family of viruses that cause a range of serious human diseases such as Dengue fever, Zika virus fever and Japanese encephalitis. They are important to understand due…
6th Asia Dengue Summit a success
6th Asia Dengue Summit –15 & 16 June, Bangkok, Thailand Attended by Kimer Med’s Business Development Manager, Dr Mike Schmidt, the annual Dengue Summit presents an opportunity for Dengue researchers,…
Breakthrough results – Kimer Med confirms antiviral compound works against Dengue and Zika
Nelson, New Zealand – 7 June 2023 – Kimer Med, a Nelson, New Zealand-based biotech start-up developing broad-spectrum antiviral compounds, today announced that it had achieved two 100% positive results in tests…
Kimer Med responds to comments in media
It was brought to our attention that someone has made a bunch of somewhat pessimistic comments on a Stuff article (November 28) about Kimer Med. We encourage questions about our…
But aren’t some viruses good?
Occasionally, we see objections to antiviral drugs, especially those targeting broad spectrum efficacy, based on the idea that viruses can be beneficial to human life. Usually however, these objections rest…
Antiviral development is critical for pandemic preparedness
Before covid-19 burst into our lives and onto our screens in 2019, the word ‘pandemic’ was not part of the daily vocabulary. It’s quite possible that I’ve never even used…
Kimer Med wins Innovative Business Award
We were honoured to be recognised for our innovative business model, and our approach to antiviral development at the Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce Business Awards. It was a great…
Q&A – All your antiviral questions and answers
In this article we will answer some of the questions we get asked about our work. If you have a question you’d like answered, please email us. The most recent…
Biotech firm to expand its antiviral drug research in Nelson
Media Release – 28 November 2022 Nelson biotech company Kimer Med is expanding into a new laboratory and looking to hire additional staff after signing an agreement with Cawthron Institute…
A cure for Monkeypox – is re-purposing existing drugs the way to go?
The current monkeypox outbreak continues to cause concern, not least because there are no specific antivirals to treat this infection. As attention turns to rapidly repurposing other drugs in the…
A new virus has recently been discovered in China. Should we be alarmed?
An international team of scientists is now monitoring a newly-identified and potentially dangerous virus that is believed to have ‘jumped’ from animals to humans. You may recall that SARS-CoV-2, the…
More than 3,000 people die every day from liver disease caused by viral hepatitis!
More than 3,000 people die every day from liver disease caused by viral hepatitis, and today (July 28) is World Hepatitis Day. What is World Hepatitis Day? World Hepatitis Day…
Kimer Med Awarded Callaghan Innovation project grant for antiviral development
We are thrilled to receive this significant support in the form of R&D funding, and see it as recognition of the important science that we are undertaking. Media Release -…
Vaccines are only part of the solution to the significant harm caused by viral disease. Here’s why.
There’s been a huge amount of interest in and discussion about vaccines over the past couple of years, and more than 66% of the world’s population has now received at…
Why now? Why us? Why VTose? How long? How much?
There are a few questions that seem to come up with almost every extended conversation about Kimer Med and what we’re doing. This isn’t meant to be an investor disclosure…
Rebuttal to OpenPhilanthropy.org’s list of objections to DRACO
Some time ago, the folks at openphilanthropy.org posted a long article with their objections against DRACO. I can’t say I’m thrilled about the idea of posting and discussing a link with so much misinformation in it, but it’s better to just address it head-on.
Will VTose® work on this virus?
With a broad-spectrum antiviral such as VTose, one of the most common questions we get is whether it will work on particular viruses. The short answer is that we won’t…
How does VTose® (DRACO) work?
Let’s start with how human cells normally defend themselves against viruses. One way this works is through antibodies. These large, Y-shaped proteins are produced by plasma B cells, a type…