· Demonstrates potent and rapid virucidal activity
· Experiment supports Brilacidin’s therapeutic potential as a COVID-19 treatment and as a prophylactic agent against COVID-19
WAKEFIELD, MA – May 19, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Innovation Pharmaceuticals (OTCQB:IPIX) (“the Company”), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, announced today that its anti-SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) drug candidate, Brilacidin, in an in vitro experiment using VERO cells, reduced the viral titer (load) of SARS-CoV-2 by 75 percent after only 1 hour of preincubation prior to infection at a concentration of 10μM as compared to vehicle control.
These statistically significant lab results strongly support Brilacidin’s prophylactic treatment potential given the drug’s potent and rapid virucidal activity—a unique ability, different from any other known drug currently in development to treat COVID-19, to inactivate the novel coronavirus prior to host cell entry and subsequent viral replication. A majority of antiviral agents targeting SARS-CoV-2 attempt to inhibit viral replication rather than completely eliminating the virus (virustatic versus virucidal).
Additional time-dependent and concentration-dependent experiments are underway to further delineate Brilacidin’s virucidal properties against SARS-CoV-2.
The review article linked below more broadly supports the therapeutic and prophylactic potential of Host Defense Proteins/Antimicrobial Peptides and their mimetics, like Brilacidin, against coronaviruses.
· Memariani H, Memariani M. “Therapeutic and Prophylactic Potential of Anti-Microbial Peptides Against Coronaviruses.” Ir J Med Sci. 2020 Apr 18: 1–2.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7165072/
Brilacidin anti-SARS-CoV-2 research is part of ongoing antiviral studies that are being conducted at a U.S. Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (RBL). An earlier 16-hour post-infection experiment, in VERO cells, showed Brilacidin exhibited a dose-dependent reduction in SARS-CoV-2 infectious viral titers.
The Company is encouraged by Brilacidin’s considerable antiviral potential and believes that its use as a possible potent prophylactic and therapeutic antiviral agent for SARS-CoV-2, and other viruses, is warranted.
Separately, the Company and laboratory researchers (from a different testing facility) agreed that Brilacidin as a vaccine would not be studied further at this time. While the vaccine pathway remains of interest, the Company is prioritizing Brilacidin’s clinical development as a potential novel COVID-19 treatment, and thus is taking steps to rapidly advance Brilacidin into human trials.
Brilacidin and COVID-19
Brilacidin is one of the few drugs targeting COVID-19 that has been tested in Phase 2 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. Lab testing conducted at a U.S.-based Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (RBL) supports Brilacidin’s antiviral activity in directly inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 in cellular assays, with a molecular screening study of 11,552 compounds also supporting it as a promising novel coronavirus treatment. Additional pre-clinical and clinical data support Brilacidin’s potential to inhibit the production of IL-6, IL-1b, TNF-a and other pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines (e.g., MCP-1), which have been identified as central drivers in the worsening prognoses of COVID-19 patients. Brilacidin’s antimicrobial properties might also help to fight secondary bacterial infections, which can co-present in up to 20 percent of COVID-19 patients. These data collectively support Brilacidin as a particularly promising and unique (3 in 1 combination: antiviral, immune/anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial) anti-COVID-19 therapeutic candidate.
For researchers and institutions interested in collaborating on Brilacidin for COVID-19, please send inquiries to: covid19@ipharminc.com