WAKEFIELD, MA – March 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Innovation Pharmaceuticals (OTCQB:IPIX) (“the Company”), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, is pleased to inform shareholders that management has been advised testing of Brilacidin, the Company’s flagship defensin mimetic drug candidate, as a novel experimental treatment against the latest coronavirus is scheduled to commence at one of the 12 U.S. Regional Biocontainment Labs (RBLs) during the week of March 16, 2020.
Scientists at the RBL will be evaluating Brilacidin against SARS-CoV-2, the specific coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, the name given to the respiratory disease that has spread to 111 countries after being discovered in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China in December 2019. More than 114,000 cases of COVID-19 have since been diagnosed, with over 4,000 deaths attributed to the virus.
There are currently no countermeasures approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating COVID-19. On Friday, March 6, President Donald Trump signed an emergency bill allocating $8.3 billion in funds to combat COVID-19.
Brilacidin is a compelling investigational drug for COVID-19 due to its unique qualities to mimic the human innate immune system and Mechanism of Action that includes disruption of the membrane of pathogens, leading to cell death. Throughout laboratory and clinical studies, Brilacidin has demonstrated potent activity against Gram-positive bacteria, including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and coverage against Gram-negative bacteria. Research supports the ability of Brilacidin to swiftly penetrate a peptidoglycan layer in these difficult bacteria, which is key to rapid pathogen destruction and decreases the likelihood of drug resistance emerging.
The ability to penetrate cell walls engenders confidence in this opportunity to meet an urgent medical need in treating coronaviruses like COVID-19. COVID-19 is an “enveloped” virus, meaning it has a glycoprotein envelope surrounding its nucleocapsid. More succinctly, it has a lipid envelope derived from the host cell membranes studded with crown-like projections from which it is named.
The Company hopes to disclose the RBL’s research agenda for Brilacidin in the coming days. The upcoming research is being funded by third parties independent of Innovation Pharmaceuticals. The Company’s responsibility was only providing the Brilacidin and any requested data. The RBL now has the Brilacidin on site, as disclosed on Monday, March 9, 2020.
Penetrating the COVID-19 envelope could prove beneficial in designing a new drug or vaccine against the virus, although this would have to be confirmed through extensive laboratory and clinical research. No assurances are made or implied that testing will be successfully completed by the RBL or any other party.
As previously released, linked below (a downloadable pdf) is an overview document summarizing the scientific rationale for developing Brilacidin as a potential novel COVID-19 treatment, both as an intravenous medicine and as a vaccine.
“Background and Scientific Rationale for Brilacidin as a Potential Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Treatment” (March 1, 2020)
http://www.ipharminc.com/s/IPIX-Brilacidin-Defensin-Mimetics-COVID-19-Overview-March-1-2020-update.pdf