Well, fancy that. It would, since it is a protease, but it is a start, I guess.
My amma would approve, she always said that cod liver oil was good for you, and we all dutifully ate spoonfuls of the stuff. Still do, when I can get the real stuff.
Ok - so there's step from cold pressed cod liver oil, to enzyme from cod guts, but it is all same-same, eh?
Of course modern trawlers gut and discard the innards at sea, which pleases the sea gulls tremendously, I guess they'll start keeping the guts, until a synthesis is found.
Here is the company web site Zymetech is how they anglicized the name.
Here is the European Patent Office filing
They are privately held, and look serious. Looks like the got started looking for psychrophilic proteases, which is a good idea, and then also did a bit of "ethnic medicine" hunting.
All Icelanders know the magical healing powers of cod liver oil...
Looks like Norður ehf is a parent company or holds some stake at least. They are a technology investment company with a lot of fingers in biotech startups.
Clearly more study is warranted, and I'd recommend a large grain of salt - penzim has been used as a trendy skin treatment for some years, and they've clearly been playing with its antibiotic properties, but I see no reference to blind trials and until those are submitted, skepticism is warranted.
On the other hand, there is some very smart, aggressive biotech being done in Iceland, and they're bond to hit the jackpot eventually.
Incidentally, lot of anecdotal chat on Icelandic web sites and blogs about penzim being effective against skin problems; in particular eczema in children. NordicStore.net sells it.
Next thing to do is in vivo trials - lots of things that kill viruses, doesn't make them cures for viral infections...
In the meantime Egypt reports confirmed case, and a possible small cluster of bird 'flu in humans, Indonesia has a rash of cases, and Thailand has a suspected cluster of 26 cases. That would not be good IF confirmed.
Beside other issues to make it working in vivo: Since it is a protein it is quite likely that humans will develop immunity against it.
With Icelandic seagulls eating all of the guts, does that mean that they aren't susceptible to bird flu, or does it mean that they will develop a resistant strain?
PS Thanks for the link, but it's broken.
One virus, two viruses, please. Even if virus had had a Latin plural form, which it doesn't, it would not have been virii, but viri, vira or virus (depending on declension). Virii, I unsurely think and humbly suggest, is the plural nominative and singular genitive of the rather uncommon Roman name Virius, but I might be wrong, in which case it's the plural nominative and singular genitive of the hypothetical Latin word virius.
Cacti and octopi have also been pretty severly afflicted by this -us -> -ii meme (as have penes, kind of), and I wonder how come, 'cause there just aren't any words where -us is transformed to -ii when you take the plural.
Link fixed. Forgot the http bit.
Funny thing is I said "viruses" later in the same text.
This is what happens when you try to blog right after watching the season opener of "Rome" on HBO late night in some time zone.
Interesting point about sea gulls - I know they've had bird culls in Iceland, but thinking about it they were song birds and H5N1 was not confirmed as I recall.
On the other hand, as Zymetech is about to find out, it is a long long way from some activity in vitro to therapeutic effects in vivo, much more so from simple ingestion!
We'll see. Fun to speculate.