Replies to post #303333 on Innovation Pharmaceuticals Inc (IPIX)

[KMBJN]

Yes, I hope that BARDA will still work with companies developing antiviral therapeutics. No antivirals have been proven to actually lower viral load yet in humans (versus placebo). Remdesivir did not, even though it seemed to lead to quicker resolution of symptoms by a few days.

The article also stated

The change in policy was posted without fanfare June 3 on a government website, and was not announced in a statement. The agency said it would no longer accept proposals involving “immunomodulators or therapeutics targeting lung repair. This area of interest is suspended until further notice.” It also said it was suspending applications for companies developing preventive treatments.

So brilacidin as immunomodulator is out, but brilacidin as antiviral could be in! (but not as a preventative).

To add to my previous thoughts on what kind of grant they are seeking. The last PR says

Results, when completed, will be submitted for publication. Data generated to date supported a federal grant application filed last week by RBL, the testing laboratory, in collaboration with IPIX seeking funds to finance studies evaluating Brilacidin as a pan-coronavirus therapeutic.

It sounds like "studies" means more preclinical work, or else I would think they may have used the word "trials" instead. Also, "pan-coronavirus therapeutic" sounds like they want to test different kinds of coronavirus in a dish besides SARS2. Most likely they will look at SARS(1), MERS, and probably some less infectious human CoVs. It would be hard to imagine a "pan-coronavirus" trial. Also, a RBL probably wouldn't know the first thing about running a trial, so hopefully the grant was a dual grant for RBL to do preclinical work and IPIX to hire a CRO to run the trial(s).

Again, I really hope to be proven wrong about the grant application being only for more preclinical work, and that we get funding from somewhere to run a trial. Unfortunately some small companies have been negotiating with BARDA for over 4 months, and it's very hard to predict what they will do. There SHOULD be plenty of other funding sources for trials with something that seems as promising as brilacidin against SARS2.