Biotech Esfam says ‘on-track’ to start human trials for a COVID-19 treatment by...

Tuesday, 29 June 2021 13:34

Biotech Esfam says ‘on-track’ to start human trials for a COVID-19 treatment by end of 2021 Featured

Melbourne biosciences company Esfam Biotech says it is on track to commence human trials for a COVID-19 treatment by the end of 2021.

Esfam said on Tuesday it is developing a “world-first” novel, specific anti-COVID-19 treatment that has the potential to treat the symptoms of infection.

Esfam said that it is currently testing an injectable treatment and its researchers are also working on an inhaler option similar to those used by asthma patients, which could allow easy administration and, in some cases, facilitate delivery to some of the world’s most vulnerable and remote communities.

The company says it aims to contribute a “critical and complementary part of the toolkit to bring the world out of the pandemic”.

“We see our treatment as working side by side with vaccines, by hopefully providing protection against current and future COVID-19 variants, and helping to restore a sense of normalcy worldwide,” said Professor Albert Frauman, Director and CEO of Esfam Biotech and an established researcher into the causes and treatment of autoimmune disease and cancer.

Professor Jeffrey D Zajac AO, Academic Lead Medicine (Austin), University of Melbourne, and Medical Director of the Division of Medicine, Austin Health says there is reason to feel optimistic.

“This novel therapeutic agent shows very significant promise as both a preventative and treatment for SARS-CoV-2.”

Esfam says that unlike repurposed therapies, such as remdesivir and ivermectin, this ground-breaking discovery is a new targeted therapeutic developed specifically for SARS-CoV-2.

Esfam says its cell-based and animal testing by demonstrates a reduction in infection before it is established, as a prophylactic, as well as acting as an acute therapy for COVID-19 - and by deploying treatment to known close contacts, or to those who have been at exposure sites, researchers hope it could limit the type of community spread currently occurring across the country.

Esfam explains that the therapy works by blocking the binding of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to cells, by a unique mechanism not through the ACE-2 receptor, which has been previously studied - and testing has shown the drug prevents infection from occurring and reduces infection that has already started, and has also been shown to almost completely reduce lung infection in an animal model.

“We used computer-based modelling of drugs that work on the virus-binding target. This is a new biochemical interaction and a new – not repurposed – drug, that could provide the ability to treat preventatively, or early or milder forms of the disease, as well as in hospitalised patients,” Professor Frauman says.

Esfam says it hopes to confirm these therapeutic outcomes later this year with its planned human trials.

Esfam says that currently, there are few pharmacological interventions for treatment during early disease and no effective post-exposure prophylactic interventions - and its research may offer “new hope in the fight against this overwhelming disease and the consequential impacts on global healthcare, communities and economies”.

Supported by private equity and recognised by the Australian Government as its first life sciences early stage innovation company (ESIC), Esfam Biotech says it is working with partners worldwide to accelerate the next phase of its critical development.

“The discovery may also offer effective treatment against future variants as the virus evolves, and provisional patents have been filed for use in SARS-CoV-2 and other coronavirus infections,” Esfam concluded.

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