Ainos Announces Strategic Relationship with InnoPharmax to Jointly Develop Combined Oral Therapy for Coronavirus Infection - Seite 2

"Given the current market for other similar proposed antiviral regimens, we assume the cost per treatment globally to be approximately USD 500, subject to change in accordance with market dynamics," Mr. Tsai said.

According to a press release by the U.S. National Institutes of Health published on October 18, 2021, "Laboratory studies have shown that the normal type 1 interferon response is suppressed after infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In addition, previous studies of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 demonstrated reduced production of interferon in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection in many patients, and this was associated with more severe disease."

Ainos' VELDONA^® is a low-dose oral interferon alpha (IFN-α) therapeutic, with the ability to "interfere" with viral replication by protecting cells from virus infections, spread and cancer cell division. Interferon alpha (IFN-α) also has various antitumor activities including the direct induction of cytotoxicity and the activation of NK cells and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity.

Studies have shown that type I interferon, IFN-α, (B lymphocytes and monocyte) and IFN-β (fibroblast) not only directly inhibits the replication of virus cells but also stimulates the operation of the immune system. Type II interferons, including IFN-γ (T lymphocyte), have the functions of antivirus, activating phagocytes and inducing expression of MHC molecular. We plan to investigate combining the functions of type I and type II interferons with the hopes of more effectively inhibiting the replication of virus and enhance immunoreaction. We are focused on reducing the continuous secretion of inflammatory cytokine to avoid severe pneumonia reactions and cytokine storms.

InnoPharmax's oral drug D07001 GemOral^® inhibits inflammatory cytokine, such as IL-6 and CCL2, and also induces the production of interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) and interferon (IFN-b and IFN-λ). Gemcitabine, a key compound in GemOral^®, can improve the performance of type II interferon-γ and CD8+ of immune cells. Gemcitabine can replace cytidine to be embedded in DNA or RNA during the process of nucleotide replication, resulting in failure of nucleic acid replication and cytotoxicity which is beneficial to inhibit the replication and the growth of virus in the body.