BioSig subsidiary ViralClear Pharmaceuticals to test its drug merimepodib in a combination coronavirus treatment

BioSig Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:BGSM) subsidiary ViralClear Pharmaceuticals Inc announced an agreement with biopharmaceutical company Sorrento Therapeutics to test its coronavirus drug candidate merimepodib in combination with Sorrento’s neutralizing antibody candidate STI-1400. The deal will see Sorrento initiate testing with a selection of its agents in combination with ViralClear’s antiviral compound for possible synergistic effect against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in a preclinical hamster model.  The study will look for synergy at the effective doses between the two drugs, which are separately each already in human clinical trials, and will try to specifically demonstrate that the combined benefits in strengthening and accelerating viral clearance exceed what each drug could deliver by itself, the company said. READ: BioSig Technologies says subsidiary ViralClear Pharmaceuticals expanding drug development program to treat COVID-19 If it goes well, the results could be presented to the US Food and Drug Administration to support the initiation of a human clinical trial. In general, multi-modal approaches are considered the most likely to succeed antiviral strategies, the company said. Even in the case of highly effective stand-alone therapies, a synergistic combination can be pursued to help reduce the effective dose needed of each individual agent and aim to ensure maximum effect. Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel