Relief Therapeutics (OTC:RLFTF) makes it into the Coronavirus Technology Watch Program which is administered by the US Department of Health and Human Services, according to a recent paper.
Shares of Relief Therapeutics rose 6.15% today and will continue to do so in the coming months ahead.
In this administratively-controlled clinical trial, intravenous aviptadil, administered as 3
successive 12 hour infusions of 50/100/150 pmol/kg/hr resulted in a 9-fold advantage in both
survival and recovery from respiratory failure compared to standard of care with all approved
therapy for COVID-19 among patients treated in the same ICU by the same clinical care team.
Notably, 4 of 5 aviptadil-treated patients on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation were
successfully decannulated and survived, compared to 3 of 13 control patients. Although 20% of
patients exhibited hypotension and/or diarrhea, no drug-related serious adverse events were
seen.
This means intravenous aviptadil demonstrated a dramatic level of efficacy that is consistent with
FDA guidance for administratively-controlled clinical trials and may be warranted for use in highlycomorbid patients with Critical COVID-19 and respiratory failure.
There is currently no effective drug for Critical COVID-19 with Respiratory Failure, particularly in
highly comorbid patients and mortality is in excess of 30%. Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP) blocks replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, inhibits cytokine synthesis, prevents cytopathy, and upregulates surfactant production in human pulmonary cells.
The significant clinical improvement seen in these 21 patients treated with intravenous aviptadil compared to contemporaneous patients treated with standard of care, is consistent with the finding that VIP both blocks viral replication in pulmonary ATII cells and creates a “bystander effect” whereby nearby monocytes secrete soluble antiviral agents to further protect ATII cells, block cytokine storm, and improve oxygenation in a lung that is under attack by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The rapidity and magnitude of clinical effect has not been reported to our knowledge in association with any other COVID-19 therapeutic agent, suggesting a highly specific role of VIP in combating the lethal effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
These results should be interpreted in light of the understanding that only a minority of those infected with SARSCoV-2 develop COVID-19. The finding that survival in those with COVID-19 respiratory failure is correlated with natural levels of VIP is particularly thought-provoking.1
If SARS-CoV-2 can be prevented from infecting and replicating in vulnerable nasopharyngeal and pulmonary cells that display ACE2 surface receptors, coronavirus is potentially a low-threat pathogen to humans, as it is to other mammalian species. Indeed, while non-human mammals
can be infected with SARS-CoV-2, none seem to develop lethal COVID-19.
Our findings raise the possibility that patients with earlier stage disease and an intact pulmonary epithelium may benefit from inhaled aviptadil in order to prevent progression to respiratory failure. FDA has granted an inhaled use IND and a phase 2/3 trial of inhaled aviptadil (NCT04360096) is about to commence. Aviptadil may have further value as a nasopharyngeal drug to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from successfully infecting nasopharyngeal cells and starting the pathogenic process of COVID-19.
Moreover, aviptadil may have promise in treating a broad array of pulmonary
inflammatory conditions.
Based on these findings, aviptadil has been selected for inclusion in the Corona Virus Tech Watch Program administered by the US Department of Health and Human Services. COVID-19 therapeutics will remain a top priority, no matter how promising the efforts at vaccine development become.
Unlike expensive-to-produce monoclonal antibodies and difficult-to-scale convalescent plasma, VIP can ultimately be produced at a cost of pennies per dose, if moved from chemical peptide synthesis to yeast fermentation, as is done for insulin. As such, it may represent a critical therapeutic for COVID-19 and possibly other viral infections for both the developed and the developing world.
What is Coronavirus Technology Watch Program?
There is little to no specific information on what this program is but here is what I found, it enables a rapid-response to the COVID-19 outbreak, BARDA has repurposed the existing TechWatch program to focus on COVID-19 medical countermeasures. These CoronaWatch submissions and meetings aim to give innovators and innovative companies a government-wide platform to discuss their ideas with U.S. government experts, and seek partnership opportunities and funding with a wide range of potential federal partners.
If the TechWatch program is indeed Coronavirus Technology Watch Program then we can assume that is it the same.
Relief Thereapeutics (OTC:RLFTF) Operation Warp Speed
We have been receiving reports that mentions of Operation Warp Speed was in fact in the abstract released today in the early morning but has been updated and replaced with the Coronavirus Technology Watch Program when the investor community caught a hold of the OWS mention.
Now, some investors are thinking that this was an information leak and that the company will soon announce their acceptance into the OWS program in the coming months ahead.
Is Relief Therapeutics (OTC:RLFTF) a good investment?
Shares of Relief Therapeutics (OTC:RLFTF) appear to be a very good investment option, the Money Midnight Indicator is expecting its price to increase considerably in the next of couple of months. The majority of the metrics point to this investment being highly attractive.
