Candidate: SLV213
Category: ANTIVIRAL
Type: Oral small molecule antiviral designed to inhibit host cell cysteine proteases such as cathepsin L, thereby preventing the activation of the viral spike protein and blocking viral entry into host cells.
Status: Selva said July 21 that it completed a $3 million Series A financing round from private investors, with proceeds to be used toward rapidly advancing SLV213 into clinical trials as a leading oral drug candidate for the treatment of COVID-19. The company added that it has completed preclinical IND-enabling safety studies and a pre-IND meeting with the FDA, with the goal of readying SLV213 for clinical development.
SLV213 can be dosed orally or intravenously. Selva has opted to advance it as an oral drug candidate for COVID-19, citing advantages that include the ability to treat patients in an outpatient setting, a preferred treatment for mild to moderate and asymptomatic patients, and potential use as a prophylactic. Selva has licensed the therapeutic from University of California, San Diego, where research leading to the creation of the drug was conducted.
SLV213 has shown broad antiviral activity against coronaviruses, Ebola viruses, and paramyxoviruses. As a result, Selva said, the therapeutic has the potential to be a treatment for multiple infectious diseases caused by other coronaviruses such as SARS, but also Ebola viruses and Nipah virus, as well as Chagas disease.
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