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Increasing number of biopharma drugs target COVID-19 as virus spreads
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https://www.bioworld.com/articles/433331-increasing-number-of-biopharma-drugs-target-covid-19-as-virus-spreads
March 5, 2020
In a flurry of catch-up following the coronavirus outbreak in China, a number of biopharma companies have announced development within the last few weeks to address the ever-spreading infection known as COVID-19.
While most potential therapies are in the preclinical and discovery stage, a few, such as Foster City, Calif.-based Gilead Sciences Inc.'s remdesivir and Hangzhou China-based Ascletis Pharma Inc.'s ASC-09 and ritonavir, are in phase III. Data collected from Cortellis and BioWorld show a total of 30 potential COVID-19 candidates in development, most of which were reported in February.
Aside from the two phase III candidates, Tokyo-based Fujifilm Holdings Corp.'s favipiravir, which is approved for influenza in Japan and Ebola virus in Guinea, entered clinical development for COVID-19 this month. Aim Immunotech Inc.'s rintatolimod, which is approved in various countries for chronic fatigue syndrome, also is a candidate being studied.
Nearly 30 other products in development for coronavirus, just not specifically COVID-19, are within the Cortellis database. Companies are announcing their efforts to fight COVID-19 every day. Gaithersburg, Md.-based Novavax Inc. said on Feb. 26 that a vaccine candidate was derived from coronavirus spike protein and would be boosted by its Matrix-M adjuvant. It plans to enter a phase I trial in late spring. One day earlier, San Francisco-based Vir Biotechnology Inc. signed a global development collaboration with Wuxi Biologics, of Shanghai, to produce human monoclonal antibodies to treat COVID-19.
According to the World Health Organization, China has reported nearly 80,000 cases and more than 2,700 deaths. Outside of China, there have been about 2,800 cases in 37 countries, including 44 deaths. While it is too soon to know whether COVID-19 will reach pandemic proportions., the U.S. CDC has suggested it will likely spread to the U.S. since the virus is already moving to countries outside of China.
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