I am writing to inquire as to why more emphasis is not being placed on testing potential covid therapeutics. It is my understanding that what is making people seriously ill and killing them is not the covid virus itself but the cytokine storm that develops in some people due to their immune response to the virus. 

A Calgary company called Resverlogix has a P3 CVD drug, Apabetalone which has been approved by Health Canada for a P2 covid clinical trial. Over the past year the drug has been investigated as a covid therapeutic by very reputable research facilities and the results are recently published in “Cell” and other top scientific journals. Australia’s QIMR Berghofer Institute’s work and the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s work suggests that Apabetalone is a very strong candidate as a potential covid therapeutic. The drug has a two prong effect on covid as it 1) blocks viral entry into human cells by occupying the ACE2 receptor site and 2) subdues the inflammatory response which creates the cytokine storm.

Despite its scientific achievements Resverlogix seems to be encountering bureaucracy in carrying out the approved trial. To get life and our economy back to normal, along with the vaccination program we need a therapeutic to treat the seriously ill and thereby dampen the affects of covid on society. The company received its No Objection letter from Health Canada on April 6 and has enough drug prepared to run this trial yet this small, short trial is yet to begin. To me every effort should be made to expedite the trial for this potentially life saving solution. An additional benefit of Apabetalone should it prove to be an effective therapy is that a full course of drug is projected to cost less than $800, cheaper than the $20,000+ for a hospitalized, seriously ill covid patient.