BIT036- a likely candidate for curing COVID-19, page-694

Lab tests progressingMeanwhile, Sydney-based Biotron (ASX:BIT) said last week that work was progressing “well” screening compounds from its proprietary small molecule compound library for antiviral activity against SARS-Cov-2, the virus that caused COVID-19.The biotech company, which is primarily working on developing a cure for HIV, says it knows several of its compounds work well against the original SARS coronavirus from tests run back during the first outbreak in 2002-2004.Assays now being conducted will provide a better understanding of the potential of the compounds to treat COVID-19, Biotron says.Another Sydney-based company, Recce Pharmaceuticals (ASX:RCE), announced last month it had entered into an agreement with Durham, North Carolina-based Path BioAnalytics to test Recce’s synthetic infection-fighting polymers against SARS-CoV-2.