Pharmaust PAA;ASX
Fighting COVID-19
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Determined to become one of the first companies to develop an active treatment for COVID-19, oncology company PharmAust (ASX: PAA) has reported it has successfully repeated a second round of in-vitro anti-viral confirmatory testing, demonstrating anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of both its monepantel (MPL) and monepantel sulfone (MPLS) drug candidates.
In a statement to the market this morning, PharmAust said tests demonstrated that MPL and MPLS “reduced SARS-CoV-2”, the causative agent of COVID-19.
The news raises hope that PharmAust can repurpose MPL and MPLS as effective drugs against coronavirus given their proven ability to reduce “virus burden” regardless of laboratory, cell type or treatment timing, whether it be prior or post-infection.
More specifically, PharmAust said its experiments, conducted at 360biolabs, showed MPL and MPLS inhibited virus burden by up to 99% and 75%, respectively. The data for MPL was notably similar to the 100% inhibition demonstrated for Remdesivir used as a positive control, although at differing concentrations of the drug, the company said.
“MPL and MPLS have provided an anti-viral effect against SARS-CoV-2 in every experiment conducted to date,” Dr Mollard said.
“Furthermore, MPL has exerted greater than 90% reduction in SARS-CoV-2 virus burden in five of six experiments in two independent laboratories, using both monkey and human cell lines. It does not appear to matter if MPL or MPLS are added pre or post virus infection,” he added.
According to PharmAust, MPL may have a distinct advantage over many other drugs currently being developed or repurposed by other pharmaceutical companies, given its previous use in human clinical trials and its strong safety profile.
Ultimately, the potential benefit of MPL and MPLS needs to be determined in Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials – a step PharmAust is now preparing to take via a clinical trial program in humans.When? How are Preperations Progressing , this was stated a month ago...
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