Algernon rapidly advances Ifenprodil as a potential COVID-19 treatment and for battling respiratory diseases

Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc (CSE:AGN) (OTCQB:AGNPF) provided a year end summary of key clinical activities on Wednesday that showed it had rapidly advanced Ifenprodil (NP-120), for multiple indications including as a potential COVID-19 treatment. The Vancouver-based drug re-purposing company has filed new intellectual property rights globally for Ifenprodil for the treatment of respiratory diseases and is working to develop a proprietary injectable and slow release formulation. READ: Algernon Pharmaceuticals says last patient treated in Phase 2b portion of Ifenprodil trial Algernon is developing Ifenprodil to treat Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) and chronic cough and here are the highlights of its clinical program: March 30 - Submitted for ethics approval in Australia for a Phase 2 study of the Company’s re-purposed drug Ifenprodil for IPF and chronic cough; May 6 - Received first ethics approval from the Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital, Human Research Ethics Committee; July 7 - Began screening patients for suitability at five sites in total that are participating in the study, with three located in Australia and two in New Zealand; August 5 - Announced that the first patient had been dosed at the Waikato Hospital located in Hamilton, New Zealand; and October 13 - Announced that the IPF and chronic cough study reached 25% of its enrollment target. Ifenprodil is an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist specifically targeting the NMDA-type subunit 2B (Glu2NB) and prevents glutamate signalling. The NMDA receptor is found on many tissues including lung cells, T-cells, and neutrophils. Algernon believes Ifenprodil can reduce the infiltration of neutrophils and T-cells into the lungs where they can cause the dangerous “cytokine storm” that contributes to the loss of lung function and ultimately death as has been reported in COVID-19 infected patients. It has been a busy spell for Algernon which enrolled its first patient on August 13 from the US for its Ifenprodil COVID-19 study. In October, the company said that at its second review meeting, the Ifenprodil COVID-19 study external Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) had once again unanimously approved the continuation of the Ifenprodil COVID-19 study. On November 30, the company enrolled the final patient in its Ifenprodil COVID-19 study. By December 15, the company reported in a descriptive format, positive trending interim data for the Phase 2b part of the company’s Ifenprodil COVID-19 study. Full results are expected before the end of February. Significantly, Algernon revealed on December 24 that it had treated the last patient in the Phase 2b portion of its multinational Phase 2b/3 study of Ifenprodil. the patient had completed treatment as well as the required two-week follow up. The company closed a private placement in May offering special warrants and issued 19,605,285 warrants at a price of C$0.35 each to raise gross proceeds of approximately C$6,861,849. Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive