Candidate: Carragelose®
Type: Sulfated polymer derived from red seaweed, and indicated as a broadly active anti-viral compound for treating respiratory diseases. Approved for marketing in the EU, parts of Asia and Australia as part of nasal sprays, throat sprays and lozenges.
Status: Marinomed on April 28 said it received an undisclosed amount of funding from the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) for the development of a SARS-CoV-2 therapy based on Carragelose. The development project aims to clinically test an inhalation solution with Carragelose as an acute treatment for viral pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2 or other respiratory viruses. Tolerance of Carragelose will be evaluated first in healthy volunteers. Subsequently a proof of concept study in patients with viral pneumonia will be conducted at the Medical University of Vienna.
Within a year, Marinomed said, data should be available clarifying whether the Carragelose inhalation solution is safe and its use in patients is a health improvement compared to a placebo.
Marinomed cited a 2014 analysis of coronavirus infected patients showing that the duration of disease was reduced by more than three days in the Carragelose treated group when compared to patients treated with placebo. Existing data on the effectiveness of Carragelose serve as basis for in-vitro tests that will be carried out together with the Medical University of Vienna in order to establish safety and effectiveness, the company said.
COVID-19: 200 Candidates and Counting
To navigate through the >200 potential therapeutic and vaccine options for COVID-19, GEN has grouped the candidates into four broad categories based on their developmental and (where applicable) clinical progress:
● FRONT RUNNER – the most promising therapeutics/vaccines based on clinical progress, favorable data or both.
● DEFINITELY MAYBE – earlier phases with promising partners, or more advanced candidates in development that have generated uneven data.
● KEEPING AN EYE ON… – interesting technology, attracting notable partners, or both, but preliminary data.
● TOO SOON TO TELL – longshots pending additional experimental and/or clinical data.
GEN has also tagged the most common treatment types:
● ANTIVIRAL
● VAX
● ANTIBODY
● RNA
