- Algernon Pharmaceuticals (CSE:AGN) has submitted an ethics approval application in Australia, to commence trialing its COVID-19 drug candidate
- The application proposes a multinational study of the company’s Ifenprodil drug
- The company hopes the drug will improve lung function in COVID-19 patients and reduce the rate of respiratory-related deaths
- The company has already received approval in Canada and is currently compiling its new drug application for the US Food and Drug Administration
- Algernon Pharmaceuticals (AGN) is holding steady and is currently trading at C$0.35 per share
Algernon Pharmaceuticals (CSE:AGN) has submitted an ethics approval application in Australia, to commence trialing its COVID-19 drug candidate.
The application propers a multinationa study of the company’s Ifenprodil drug as a treatment for novel coronavirus.
Ifenprodil was originally developed in the 1990’s to treat circulatory disorders. It is currently only available in Japan. As the drug has already been proven safe in the past it can move directly into phase two study.
The company hopes the drug will improve lung function in COVID-19 patients and reduce the rate of respiratory-related deaths. However, the company stressed that it is not, at this time, making any claims about the effectiveness of the drug.
The company has already received approval in Canada and is currently compiling its investigational new drug application for the US Food and Drug Administration.
The proposed trial will test 100 patients with COVID-19 diagnoses. Half of the patients will receive standard medical care, while the remaining half will receive the same care plus 20 milligrams of Ifenprodil.
Doctors monitoring the patients will then looks for any differences between the two groups in mortality, blood oxygen levels, time spent in intensive care and time to mechanical ventilation.
Christopher J. Moreau, CEO of Algernon Pharmaceuticals, is pleased that the drug’s development has reach another milestone.
“Thanks to the hard work of our CRO partner Novotech, this ethics submission is yet another important step in the Company’s COVID-19 clinical development program.
“The Algernon team is working hard to finalize the U.S. FDA application and will be updating the market on its progress shortly,” he said.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year, the company’s market share has risen almost 300 per cent.
Algernon Pharmaceuticals (AGN) is holding steady and is trading for C$0.35 per share at 11:20am EDT.