Muting the Pain of Shingles

Wintermute takes its name from William Gibson’s novel, Neuromancer, in which a powerful, calculating artificial intelligence yearns to merge with its counterpart to become a single superintelligence.  The Wintermute name, associated with a winter landscape’s muffled silence, could describe the topical shingles treatment Wintermute is developing as a more effective way to manage this infection, and its terrible associated pain, that currently oral antivirals struggle to fully address.

Wintermute Biomedical was founded in 2012, developing Solexan, a patented fatty-acid ammonium carboxylate salt technology already established with a long safety track record as a topical antifungal. While the technology was first developed in Thomas Rau’s lab at the University of Montana, Wintermute’s scientific engine is now based in Australia, a deliberate move to leverage the country’s research ecosystem and advantageous R&D tax incentives.  

“Solexan’s technology combines fatty-acids and amino-acids to create antimicrobial micelles that are water-soluble and non-toxic,” explains Rau, founder and CEO. “The small multi-layered nanomicelles bind to the virus, tying them up in a spider web preventing them from infecting cells and spreading — a mechanical neutralization rather than the enzymatic interference used by conventional antivirals and antibiotics.

When you get shingles, a reactivation of the chicken pox virus, the varicella-zoster virus travels down the nerve to the skin’s surface and erupts, causing terrible pain.  If you coat that virus with these micelles and stop them from replicating, you stop the pain and you stop the disruption of the skin. This unique mechanism of action is first-in-class.”

Vaccines remain effective at reducing shingles incidence, but once the condition emerges, oral antivirals offer only limited relief and typically shorten the duration of pain by just a few days. Wintermute’s Phase Ib clinical trial, however, suggests Solexan may meaningfully change that trajectory. Participants treated with Solexan reported a median pain duration of 6.5 days, compared to 19.5 days in the placebo group — a striking early signal. 

“We are using undecylenic acid, used for decades as a safe topical antifungal, now for its antiviral action,” Rau says. “What is unique about our technology is - we take arginine, the amino acid, and combine it with undecylenic acid, the fatty acid, forming a bond so safe without need for other fillers or substrates. It’s just the amino acid and fatty acid, both already recognized by the FDA as safe and effective.” 

Because Solexan’s micelles interact with the viral envelope, rather than viral pathways, they present a far lower risk for resistance. And Solexan’s self-administered topical delivery targets exactly where shingles lesions erupts and more convenient administration for patients.

Rau emphasizes why Wintermute’s technology is so exciting because it works against a broad range of organisms. “Regardless of what is living in any wound - you don't have to culture it or test for sensitivities.  You can use our product as a broad action ‘kill all’,” he says.