Oral Antivirals Can Change Coronavirus Pandemic Course

A Florida based biotechnology company announced it has received clearance by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to begin a human clinical study of the orally-delivered, antiviral compound, EIDD-2801, which has previously been found to prevent and treat coronavirus infections in animals.

This action by the MHRA allowed Ridgeback to dose its initial patient in the UK on April 10, 2020.

Essentially, EIDD-2801 tricks RNA viruses into including the wrong building blocks as it tries to reproduce itself.  

This leads to dramatically reduced levels of virus in animals infected with a wide variety of RNA viruses when treated with EIDD-2801.  

Specifically, EIDD-2801 has been shown to treat severe coronavirus infections related to MERS and SARS in animals when given after an infection has been established.  

And when administered prophylactically, EIDD-2801 has shown the ability to prevent significant manifestations of disease in animals when challenged with coronaviruses.

Dr. Wayne Holman, Co-Founder of Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, said in a press statement, “We believe if the animal data for severe coronaviruses is replicated in human trials that EIDD-2801 has the potential to safely treat COVID-19 with a short oral course of therapy that reduces the severity of the disease.” 

“And, hopefully, prevents the need for hospitalization and the need for ventilator support.”

“We are grateful to our partners at DRIVE and to our scientific collaborators at UNC and Vanderbilt for all of the work it took to bring this project from an idea to patients.”

Ridgeback and DRIVE signed a partnership agreement in March 2020 with the focused mission of advancing EIDD-2801 through clinical development and to optimizing availability during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Under this collaboration, Ridgeback has exclusively licensed DRIVE's EIDD-2801.

The development of EIDD-2801 has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, for the treatment of Influenza, coronavirus, chikungunya, and Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus.

DRIVE is a non-profit LLC wholly owned by Emory University and started as an innovative approach to drug development.

EIDD-2801 is an orally bioavailable form of a highly potent ribonucleoside analog that inhibits the replication of multiple RNA viruses including SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19. 

In animal studies of SARS-CoV1 and MERS, EIDD-2801 has been shown to improve pulmonary function, decrease body weight loss and reduce the amount of virus in the lung. 

In addition to activity against coronaviruses, EIDD-2801 in laboratory studies, has demonstrated activity against seasonal and bird influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, chikungunya virus, Ebola virus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, and Eastern equine encephalitis virus.

Ridgeback Biotherapeutics is a privately held, majority woman-owned biotechnology company focused on orphan and emerging infectious diseases.

Coronavirus medication and vaccine development news published by Precision Vaccinations.