Resverlogix Plans COVID-19 Clinical Trial Program Launch

CALGARY, Alberta, June 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Resverlogix Corp. ("Resverlogix" or the "Company") (TSX:RVX) is pleased to announce that it is moving forward with a plan to further evaluate apabetalone’s impact on COVID-19 in both a preclinical and clinical setting. A first step will be to investigate whether apabetalone treatment of human cells susceptible to 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection will impact the replication cycle of the virus. Initial work – undertaken in an approved Biological Safety Level 3 laboratory (BSL3) – has commenced with additional work with other third-party laboratories expected to follow soon. In parallel, cell factors critical to 2019-nCoV infection will be assessed in-house for apabetalone-mediated regulation.

An additional step will be to proceed with an open-label study to assess the safety and efficacy of a clinical course of oral apabetalone in hospitalized subjects with 2019-nCoV infection on top of standard of care compared to standard of care alone. Endpoints will include clinical progression, an evaluation of viral levels via nasal and pharyngeal swabs, as well as the effect of apabetalone on key virus-related biomarkers including ACE2 and others within the renin-angiotensin system, as well as an inflammatory panel of markers including IL6, IL8, CRP, etc. in hospitalized subjects with 2019-nCoV infection.

The safety of apabetalone has been demonstrated in >1900 subjects in completed Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical studies, including >1700 patients with cardiovascular disease. Overall, apabetalone was generally well tolerated and serious adverse events were similar in placebo and active-treated subjects.

The Company’s interest in COVID-19 research is a direct result of studies published by Gordon, D.E. et al. in Nature (2020) ‘A SARS-CoV-2 protein interaction map reveals targets for drug repurposing’ (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2286-9) that demonstrated apabetalone to inhibit specialized proteins – called bromodomain and extra terminal domain (BET) proteins – from interacting with a SARS-CoV-2 viral protein, with potential for limiting viral reproduction in human cells. This is in addition to work done, in house, that demonstrated that apabetalone treatment of human cells decreases the expression of the key viral adhesion protein, ACE2.

Additional interested COVID-19 collaborators, including investigators/clinicians, with BSL3 lab facilities can contact:

Donald McCaffrey, President & CEO