From a paper published in April this year… Plausibility of...

From a paper published in April this year…

Plausibility of therapeutic effects of Rho kinase inhibitors against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (COVID-19)

Recently, we reviewed how Rho/ROCK signaling pathway modulates acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and indicated that by using specific Rho kinase inhibitors, we can prevent/treat such conditions. Activation of RhoA GTPase and its downstream effector, Rho kinase (ROCK), contributes to a burst in inflammatory features, immune cell migration, apoptosis, coagulation, contraction, and cell adhesion in pulmonary endothelial cells, leading to endothelium barrier dysfunction and edema as hallmarks of lung injury. Importantly, Rho kinase inhibitors …could significantly attenuate lung injury in different in vivo and in vitro models of ALI. Furthermore, excellent anti-fibrotic effects of Rho kinase inhibitors were shown in models of pulmonary fibrosis….Rho kinase inhibitors can suppress pathways involved in lung tissue destruction. So, we assume that clinical trials on the effects of Rho kinase inhibitors against respiratory complications induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection, should be conducted.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7195000/

The authors note that RhoA GTPase contributes to the hallmarks of lung injury in acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome and that use of Rho kinase inhibitors can suppress pathways involved in lung tissue destruction. They conclude that clinical trials should be conducted on the effects of Rho kinase inhibitors against respiratory complications induced by COVID-19.

Prescient has stated that it believes that PTX-100 is the only RhoA inhibitor in the world in clinical development.