Sunshine Biopharma Signs Exclusive Worldwide License With University of Arizona For PLpro-Based Covid-19 Treatment

Sunshine Biopharma Inc. announced the signing of an exclusive worldwide license agreement (the “License Agreement”) with the University of Arizona. The License Agreement grants Sunshine Biopharma exclusive worldwide rights for all of the University of Arizona and University of Illinois Chicago technology pertaining to PLpro protease inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Sunshine Biopharma has been working on this project in collaboration with the University of Arizona since February 2022. The collaboration granted Sunshine Biopharma an exclusive option to obtain a license for the related technology.

Specifically, the licensed technology covers small molecules which have been shown to be efficient inhibitors of PLpro, the second coronavirus protease responsible for suppression of the human immune system thereby making the SARS-CoV-2 virus capable of causing more severe illness. Paxlovid, an inhibitor for the first protease of SARS-CoV-2 (Mpro) has recently received emergency use authorization from the FDA. Sunshine Biopharma believes that an inhibitor for the second protease will provide another target to combat the virus and help mitigate the occurrence of possible resistance events.

“It’s good to see the work that we started at the beginning of the pandemic is moving forward towards real-world impact,” said Gregory Thatcher, PhD, professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Arizona R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy.

Dr. Thatcher led the initiative in collaboration with assistant professor Rui Xiong, PhD, and postdoctoral research associate Zhengnan Shen, PhD, at the University of Arizona and collaborators Kiira Ratia, PhD, Lijun Rong, PhD, and Laura Cooper, PhD, at the University of Illinois Chicago.

“The encouraging research results we have obtained in our collaboration with the University of Arizona prompted us to exercise our option to license,” said Dr. Steve Slilaty, CEO of Sunshine Biopharma. “We are very pleased with this milestone in terms of securing the intellectual property of the project as we continue to move forward with the development of our COVID-19 treatment pipeline,” he added.