WAKEFIELD, MA – March 6, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Innovation Pharmaceuticals (OTCQB:IPIX) (“the Company”), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company, continues to receive inquiries regarding the potential of Brilacidin, the Company’s novel defensin mimetic compound, to treat COVID-19, more generically called “coronavirus,” given the urgent worldwide need to discover treatments and vaccines for the deadly epidemic. According to Worldometer.info as of Friday morning, more than 100,000 cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed worldwide with over 3,400 deaths attributed to the virus.
In the U.S., patients in 18 states have tested positive, or are presumptively positive, for COVID-19. On Thursday, Congress passed an $8.3 billion emergency bill to release funds for fighting COVID-19. Innovation Pharmaceuticals has submitted a preliminary summary of Brilacidin’s therapeutic potential as a novel coronavirus treatment to the U.S. Government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and is already collaborating with scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for review of Brilacidin as a potential COVID-19 intervention.
Innovation disclosed last week that the Company signed a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) to provide Brilacidin to one of the U.S.’s 12 Regional Biocontainment Labs (RBLs) for evaluation against COVID-19.
Today, the Company announces that a second MTA has been signed to ship Brilacidin to a major U.S. university for analysis. One of world’s leading coronavirus experts is overseeing the research. Innovation management is awaiting approval from the university to disclose additional details on the agreement and hopes to further inform shareholders next week regarding this development.
About Brilacidin and COVID-19
The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak poses a significant life-threatening and economic risk throughout the world. Over 100,000 cases have been diagnosed in at least 83 countries, resulting in 3,400 reported deaths, including 226 cases and 12 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 possible 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.