Anixa Biosciences Begins Animal Testing of Covid-19 Therapeutic Candidates
Anixa Biosciences, Inc. a biotechnology company focused on the treatment and prevention of cancer and infectious diseases, announced that animal testing has commenced with two proprietary compounds that have shown potency in in vitro studies.
Dr. Amit Kumar, President and CEO of Anixa Biosciences stated, “After screening billions of compounds in silico, synthesizing dozens and testing them in biological assays, we have identified two of the most promising for further testing in animal models. These two compounds will be tested in animals and will be compared to Remdesivir, which is the only anti-viral drug approved for Covid-19. We expect this proof of concept study to be completed in a few weeks.”
Dr. Kumar added, “Our vision for these potential drugs is that they can be taken orally in an outpatient setting before symptoms become severe enough for hospitalization. Additionally, since these compounds target functional enzymes of the virus, we do not expect the new spike protein variants to be able to evade the drug, like they may evade vaccines. While we are pleased that there are effective vaccines against the virus, we feel as the virus continues to adapt to human hosts, new variants will emerge. There is no way to predict if and when a variant will appear that renders one or more vaccines ineffective. Therefore, we believe that potent and easily administered therapeutics will always be necessary to battle this disease.”
One of the compounds being tested targets an enzyme called an endoribonuclease, and the other compound targets the enzyme known as the main protease, Mpro. Upon demonstration of potency in animals with one of these compounds, Anixa and collaboration partner OntoChem GmbH will have medicinal chemistry performed to optimize the potency before commencing comprehensive animal studies in anticipation of human clinical trials.
“These compounds were designed to specifically target the enzymes of SARS-CoV-2, but we feel that these compounds may also be active against other corona viruses, as well as many of the new variants that are emerging and will continue to emerge,” stated Dr. Lutz Weber, CEO of OntoChem.