Preventive nasal spray that reduces virus replication by up to 96% in Business News, COVID-19 Challenge Study

• New preventive nasal spray treatment announced that can protect people from COVID-19 infection and prevent infection
• A new treatment developed by Australian biotechnology company Ena Respiratory has been shown in gold standard animal studies to significantly reduce COVID-19 virus levels in the nose and throat.
• A study conducted by British Public Health Service (PHE) scientists to reduce COVID-19 replication by up to 96%
• With a mechanism of action that complements the COVID-19 vaccine, it is easy to administer nasally and is delivered once or twice a week.
• May be used to prevent infection in at-risk populations, including health care workers and the elderly
• Ready to proceed to human clinical trials within 4 months
• The company has raised AU $ 11.7m and is looking for additional investment

Melbourne, Australia, September 28, 2020 / PRNewswire /-A new nasal treatment developed to strengthen the natural human immune system to combat colds and flu has significantly succeeded in reducing the COVID-19 virus replication test results announced today. It became clear that.

The new product INNA-051, being developed by Australian biotechnology company Ena Respiratory, has reduced virus replication by up to 96% in gold standard animal studies led by professor and deputy director of Public Health England (PHE). Mile Carol It was published today on medRxiv, a pre-publication research site for biomedicine.

The INNA-051 compound works by stimulating the innate immune system, which is the first line of defense against the invasion of pathogens into the body. Thus, enhancing the immune response with INNA-051 prior to infection dramatically reduced the ability of the COVID-19 virus to infect and replicate animals, a PHE study showed. This study provides evidence that INNA-051 can be used as an independent method of antiviral prophylactic therapy to complement the vaccine program.

“I’m amazed at how effective our treatment is,” Dr. Says Ena Respiratory Managing Director. Christoph Demaison.. “We have seen rapid eradication of the virus by enhancing the innate immune response of ferrets with our treatment.”

“If humans respond in a similar way, there are two benefits to treatment. Individuals exposed to the virus will rapidly eliminate the virus and treatment will prevent the disease from progressing beyond mild symptoms. This is a member of the community that is particularly related to vulnerabilities. In addition, the speed of this response means that infected individuals are less likely to communicate it, and to stop the infection of the community quickly. Means. “

Ena Respiratory has raised AU $ 11.7m from an Australian investor and, subject to successful toxicity studies and regulatory approvals, the company is ready to test INNA-051 in human experimentation in less than four months. There is a possibility.

The funding was led by a coalition of investment partners and the Medical Research and Commercialization Fund (MRCF) managed by Brandon Capital. These include the Australian Government through the MRCF Biomedical Translation Fund, four major pension funds (AustralianSuper, HESTA, Hostplus, Statewide Super), and the biotechnology giant CSL. Univeseed, the university’s commercialization fund, also participated.

The company is urgently seeking additional funding to promote clinical development and global marketing of nasal drops.

Doctor Chris NaveMRCF CEO and co-founder of Brandon Capital says these very promising results mean that INNA-051 is an exciting front runner to fight COVID-19. “We are doing our best to support the Ena respiratory system and are exploring to secure additional investment to accelerate the development and testing of human therapies. The vaccine is ultimately COVID-19. It’s a major solution to combat, but the government has a therapeutic approach to ensure that different vaccines have a wide range of options when they turn out to be elusive or take a long time to develop. “

INNA-051 is a small synthetic molecule that is self-administered via an easy-to-use nasal spray and is taken once or twice a week for almost immediate treatment. Given the successful human trials and the unprecedented need for drugs to combat COVID-19, this prophylactic immunomodulatory therapy could be manufactured on a large scale and quickly and ready for immediate use. there is.

“This is an important step forward as the world competes to find solutions to prevent COVID-19 infection and transmission to at-risk populations,” he said. Roberto Solari Respiratory Specialist, Ena Respiratory Advisor, Visiting Professor at Imperial College London. “The most exciting thing is that INNA-051 significantly lowers viral levels in the nose and throat. This treatment allows infected people, especially those who are presymptomatic or asymptomatic and may go unnoticed. COVID-19 infections can be reduced by, “says Professor Solari.

INNA-051 provides true hope for those who are at the forefront of fighting COVID-19. Chris smith, Ena Respiratory Director, and Brandon Capital Senior Investment Manager. “This treatment offers great potential to protect the most vulnerable people, including those with existing respiratory illnesses and the elderly who are less effective with vaccines.”

INNA-051 was developed before the COVID-19 pandemic and increased resistance to the wider respiratory virus epidemic. Unlike vaccines that target specific strains, INNA-051 is designed to be effective against all types of respiratory infections.

“Our nasal treatment has amazing potential to fight COVID-19 and future pandemics,” continues Dr. Smith. Vaccination is often the most attractive approach to combating a respiratory virus epidemic, but vaccines provoke specific reactions in the adaptive immune system and are effective against future viral mutations. This method is often challenging, as it may not be. INNA-051 utilizes a non-specific innate immune response and is effective against a wide range of viruses. ”

“As an original investor with Uniseed, MRCF found great potential in controlling the outbreak of respiratory viruses in INNA-051 before the COVID-19 era, just as we are currently experiencing. .. “We are now excited to be able to devote our efforts to the fight against COVID-19. This treatment is not only for this pandemic, but for future viral respiratory illnesses. It can also play an important role in the outbreak of. “

The authors of the study include Public Health England (PHE), Ena Respiratory, major Australian research institutes, Hunter Medical Institute, Newcastle, University of Melbourne..

Uniseed CEO Dr Peter Divine “These are very exciting results, demonstrating the potential clinical usefulness of ena drugs in the treatment of COVID-19. This may require multiple therapeutic approaches. Emphasizes the value of promoting commercialization in the early stages of research. To influence the world. “

About Ena Respiratory

Ena Respiratory, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ena Therapeutics, aims to transform the treatment and prevention of respiratory infections in people at risk.

Ena Respiratory is developing a new synthetic innate immunomodulator for the prevention of respiratory viral and bacterial infections. The company Melbourne And Sydney, Australia.. Ena Therapeutics has secured a Series A investment from Brandon Capital’s Medical Research and Commercialization Fund (MRCF) and Uniseed.

https://enarespiratory.com

About INNA-051

INNA-051, a leading candidate for Ena Respiratory, is a synthetic pegged TLR2 / 6 agonist. INNA-051 is locally delivered to the respiratory tract (once / twice weekly nasal drops) to target the primary site of most respiratory viral infections, including COVID-19, influenza, and rhinovirus. Developed for Local respiratory management of Ena Respiratory’s pegged TLR2 / 6 agonist activates several important innate immune defense mechanisms involved in antiviral prevention. INNA-051 is based on the findings made by Professor David Jackson and his team. Professor Jackson leads the laboratory of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infectious Immunology. University of Melbourne..

The wide range of antiviral effects of Ena Respiratory’s pegged TLR2 / 6 agonists have been demonstrated in pre-animal clinical models of respiratory viruses, including models of influenza, rhinovirus (cold) and secondary bacterial infections.

The effectiveness of INNA-051 COVID-19 has been confirmed in the ferret challenge model by a team led by the professor. Mile Carol Public health in England. In this study, INNA-051 was given as a prophylaxis. In the optimal dosing regimen, 5 days after exposure to COVID-19, INNA-051 treated animals were compared with pharyngeal swabs (96% reduction) and nasal irrigation (93% reduction) compared to untreated animals. There was a statistically significant reduction in the virus. Very high levels of exposure to the virus (in these studies, about 5 million virus particles were administered).

About the Medical Research and Commercialization Fund (MRCF) and Brandon Capital Partners

Brandon Capital Partners is a venture capital firm that manages the Medical Research Commercialization Fund (MRCF). Australia And New Zealand The largest life science investment fund. MRCF is Australia’s leading pension fund with Australia new Zealand Governments, Australian state governments, more than 50 major medical research institutes and research hospitals. MRCF supports the development and commercialization of early biomedical discoveries derived from member research organizations and provides both capital and expertise to guide the successful development of new therapies. To date, MRCF has supported more than 45 start-ups, most of them founded by MRCF.

For more information on visiting MRCF https://www.mrcf.com.au/

For more information on Brandon Capital Partners, please visit: www.brandoncapital.com.au

About Uniseed

Uniseed Australian The longest-running early-stage commercialization fund that invests in research originating from five Australian Major research institutes – University of Queensland, University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, University of Melbourne And CSIRO. Uniseed is an investment trust for research institutes owned by research institutes. The fund promotes the commercialization of research partners’ most promising intellectual property and secures targeted investments in the resulting products and technologies. To date, Uniseed has supported 57 start-ups and is the seed investor for most of these.

See below for more information. www.uniseed.com