WAKEFIELD, MA – March 9, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Innovation Pharmaceuticals (OTCQB:IPIX) (“the Company”), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, announces today the Company has been notified by one of the 12 Regional Biocontainment Labs (RBLs) in the United States that it received shipment of Brilacidin, the Company’s defensin mimetic drug candidate, for testing against SARS-CoV-2, the specific coronavirus responsible for COVID-19. Brilacidin is immediately being placed into queue and the Company anticipates confirmation of the testing schedule as well as procedures for the studies later this week.
About Brilacidin and COVID-19
The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak poses a significant life-threatening and economic risk throughout the world. Over 109,900 cases have been diagnosed in at least 97 countries, resulting in over 3,800 reported deaths, including 545 cases and 22 fatalities in the U.S. There are no effective approved therapies to treat COVID-19. Brilacidin is one of the few drugs targeting COVID-19 that has been tested in human trials for other clinical indications, providing an established safety and efficacy profile, thereby potentially enabling it to rapidly help address the emerging worldwide coronavirus crisis, developed both as an intravenous medicine and as a vaccine. The Company is pursuing pharmaceutical partnerships, academic collaborations and government grants to further evaluate and potentially advance Brilacidin’s clinical development as a novel COVID-19 treatment. There is no assurance made or implied that testing Brilacidin for antiviral activity against any coronavirus will be successful.