Cellmat Therapeutics' 'Neovir'-Based COVID-19 Treatment... "Antiviral Substance Efficacy Testing Begins"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Cellma Therapeutics announced on the 12th that it has officially begun antiviral efficacy testing to verify the coronavirus inhibitory effect of the interferon formulation ‘Neovir’.

‘Neovir’ is an antiviral agent developed by the Russian pharmaceutical company ‘Pharmsintez’. It is a formulation with a different mechanism from chloroquine (a malaria treatment) or remdesivir (an Ebola treatment) and is used as a treatment for diseases caused by various viruses such as HIV (AIDS), HPV (human papillomavirus), and Herpes.

This efficacy test will be conducted with the domestic CRO company Notus as an experiment to suppress virus proliferation by promoting the expression of ‘interferon alpha’ through ‘Neovir’. Cellma will be the first in Korea to attempt exploring a coronavirus treatment method using interferon inducers.

On the 4th, the UK biotech company Synairgen began clinical trials for a coronavirus treatment using ‘interferon beta’, and antiviral efficacy research on interferons is actively progressing worldwide. Interferons are a type of cytokine that regulates immune responses in the body and act to inhibit viral infection and replication. They are divided into alpha, beta, and gamma types, with interferon alpha and beta known to have antiviral effects.

Cellma recently received the ‘Neovir’ formulation from Russia and has started efficacy testing. As of the 11th, the number of new COVID-19 cases in Russia has exceeded 10,000 for nine consecutive days, with cumulative cases surpassing 220,000, indicating a serious situation. However, since importing treatments from the US is difficult, Russia is highly hopeful that antiviral drugs developed domestically will be adopted as treatments and used globally, according to the company.

On the 17th of last month, Cellma signed a joint research and development agreement with Pharmsintez for a COVID-19 treatment using Neovir. Through this new drug development, they plan to jointly enter the global pharmaceutical market, with treatment rights for COVID-19 related diseases jointly owned by Cellma and Pharmsintez.

A company official stated, "Once meaningful results come out from this efficacy test, we will proceed with full-scale clinical trials within three months."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.