Archived News
In August 2021 Finfeed changed from a website that covered ASX listed news to a website
that covered a select range of ASX
listed small cap Biotech stocks that we are personally
invested in: find out more.
The old Finfeed website, and all of the old articles are kept here for record keeping purposes.
VISIT NEW SITECould PAA’s lead cancer drug treatment treat COVID-19?
2 minute read
PharmAust Limited (ASX:PAA) has entered into a Materials Transfer Agreement with the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) to test the effects of monepantel (MPL) on COVID-19 infections.
Monepantel is PharmAust’s lead drug candidate. It is a novel, potent and safe inhibitor of the mTOR pathway – a key driver of cancer.
MPL has been evaluated in Phase 1 clinical trials in humans and dogs; was well tolerated and produced a significant reduction in key prognostic biomarkers. PAA is uniquely positioned to commercialise MPL for treatment of human and veterinary cancers as it advances the drug in Phase 2 clinical trials.
Given the advancing nature of Monapantel, there is further community value in testing whether Monepantel’s mechanism of action in cancer may also prove to be beneficial in the treatment of certain viral diseases such as COVID-19.
There are currently no specific vaccines or treatments for COVID-19, however there are several clinical trials being conducted around the world to evaluate potential treatments.
Under the Transfer Agreement studies will be conducted by WEHI researcher and joint head of the Institute’s Infectious Diseases and Immune Defence division Professor Marc Pellegrini (MBBS BSc FRACP PhD FAHMS).
Professor Pellegrini is also an infectious disease clinician at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and is the recipient of an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Excellence Award for his work on chronic infections.
Importantly for PharmAust, it will own all intellectual property results and rights generated from the studies.
PharmAust will pay a nominal fee to WEHI for undertaking the studies using monepantel and monepantel sulfone.
“We are delighted to be working with the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research on this timely and important project and delighted that Professor Marc Pellegrini has agreed to be the Investigator, ” PharmAust’s Executive Chairman Dr Roger Aston said.
The studies will commence shortly with preliminary data estimated to be delivered by WEIHI in May 2020.
S3 Consortium Pty Ltd (CAR No.433913) is a corporate authorised representative of LeMessurier Securities Pty Ltd (AFSL No. 296877). The information contained in this article is general information only. Any advice is general advice only. Neither your personal objectives, financial situation nor needs have been taken into consideration. Accordingly you should consider how appropriate the advice (if any) is to those objectives, financial situation and needs, before acting on the advice.
Conflict of Interest Notice
S3 Consortium Pty Ltd does and seeks to do business with companies featured in its articles. As a result, investors should be aware that the Firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of this article. Investors should consider this article as only a single factor in making any investment decision. The publishers of this article also wish to disclose that they may hold this stock in their portfolios and that any decision to purchase this stock should be done so after the purchaser has made their own inquires as to the validity of any information in this article.
Publishers Notice
The information contained in this article is current at the finalised date. The information contained in this article is based on sources reasonably considered to be reliable by S3 Consortium Pty Ltd, and available in the public domain.