Since the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 several million people got infected with this virus and several hundred thousand people already died due to the consequences of COVID-19. Coronaviruses are a recurring and ongoing pandemic of the 21st century. In the last two decades three coronaviruses emerged, SARS, MERS and SARS-CoV-2, and caused life-threatening diseases. So far, no vaccine or specific antiviral therapy for SARS-CoV-2 exist. Current repurposed drugs in clinical development either have many side effects or have a high risk for the development of drug resistances, because they target components of the genetically variable viruses. Therefore, an urgent medical need for a reliable and tolerable broad-spectrum antiviral drug without the risk of resistant virus variations exists.
IML-206 as a broad-spectrum antiviral drug for the treatment of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 or other (future) coronaviruses. Unlike many other developments, the innovative substance IML-206 blocks specific cellular structures in humans, which are very likely indispensable for the replication of a broad range of coronavirus variants.
Worldwide more than 36 million people live with an HIV infection and thus with the expectation to develop AIDS sooner or later. Despite the available combined antiretroviral therapy, AIDS is far from being defeated. With an array of drugs, the therapy targets viral components and suppresses the replication of the virus and therewith in most cases the outbreak of the fatal AIDS disease. Due to the high mutation rate of the virus, new variations increasingly resistant against the existing drugs arise constantly. Additionally, many drugs cause severe side effects and cannot be permanently taken by a large number of patients. Therefore, despite the modern combined antiretroviral therapy annually around 22 000 HIV-infected alone in Western and Central Europe as well as USA die from the consequences of AIDS.
IML-106 for the efficient and essential treatment of patients who have exploited all available means of the modern therapy, and who would die due to the unavoidable outbreak of AIDS. The lead candidate targets directly the components of the host cell, which are essential for the replication of HIV. The goal is to significantly reduce the risk of resistant virus variations.
In the fight against coronaviruses the team of the ImmunoLogik identified a promising lead candidate for the treatment of people infected with SARS-CoV-2.
For the funding of the next steps in the drug development of the lead candidate IML-206 the ImmunoLogik starts a new crowdinvesting campaign on aescuvest.de and moneywell.de in the context of the #CrowdBeatsCorona alliance.
It is a great pleasure to have received the message from the USA, that the in July 2015 filed patent for IML-106 has been approved after long scrutiny by the US patent office under the patent number US 10,588,896 this March. The patent extents to the substance IML-106 (in the patent described under the former trade name as PR-619) for the treatment of retroviral infectious diseases and its sequelae, especially HIV infections and AIDS.
