Replies to post #382381 on Innovation Pharmaceuticals Inc (IPIX)

[Lemoncat]

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.11.04.467344v1

Brilacidin, a mimetic of host defense peptides (HDPs), is currently in phase 2 clinical trial as an antibiotic drug candidate. A recent study reported that brilacidin has antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 by inactivating the virus. In this work, we discovered an additional mechanism of action of brilacidin by targeting heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) on host cell surface. Brilacidin, but not acetyl brilacidin, inhibits the entry of SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus into multiple cell lines, and heparin, a HSPG mimetic, abolishes the inhibitory activity of brilacidin on SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus cell entry. In addition, we found that brilacidin has broad-spectrum antiviral activity against multiple human coronaviruses (HCoVs) including HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43, and HCoV-NL63. Mechanistic studies revealed that brilacidin has a dual antiviral mechanism of action including virucidal activity and binding to coronavirus attachment factor HSPGs on host cell surface. Brilacidin partially loses its antiviral activity when heparin was included in the cell cultures, supporting the host-targeting mechanism. Drug combination therapy showed that brilacidin has a strong synergistic effect with remdesivir against HCoV-OC43 in cell culture. Taken together, this study provides appealing findings for the translational potential of brilacidin as a broad-spectrum antiviral for coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2.

It's a very positive abstract but a certain poster on the board seems very concerned with the heparin part of it.

We'll know TLD this week so it doesn't really matter.

Maybe one of our Physicians/Scientists can weigh in on this. I don't have a clue whether the SOC in the trial would include Heparin or whether it is a major concern if it does. Out of my league...I'm said to play games on Youtube but in truth I do less than that.

EDit: Farrell handled it. THanks Farrell!

Go IPIX!