FULL DISCLOSURE: This content is sponsored by PharmaDrug Inc.
PharmaDrug (CSE: PHRX) is reporting this morning that cepharanthine, of which their subsidiary has developed a patented version with enhanced oral bioavailability, has been highlighted as having the potential to bind to monkeypox proteins following an independent screening of drugs to treat the disease.
The screening, which was published in the Journal of Infection under a report titled, “Highly accurate protein structure prediction and drug screen of monkeypox virus proteome,” is not yet peer reviewed. The report states that it intended to uncover potential drugs to treat monkeypox based on an accurate prediction of the protein structure of the disease, for which they analyzed 5,903 approved drugs from the Zinc database.
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Of all the drugs analyzed, Trypan Blue and Cepharanthine were said to display “significant binding affinities to all ten target proteins.” Furthermore, Cepharanthine was said to show high binding affinities to four of the predicted target proteins.
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Cepharanthine is an approved drug that has been used for over seven decades in Japan to treat a number of acute and chronic disease. Studies have shown it to have several pharmacological properties including anti-inflammatory, immuno-regulatory, anti-cancer, anti-viral and anti-oxidative.
The drug however has had low oral bioavailability historically, leading to PharmaDrug’s joint venture subsidiary, Sairiyo Therapeutics, to develop PD-001, which is an enteric-coated oral version of cepharanthine that has been demonstrated in rodent and non-rodent models to markedly improve bioavailability.
“We are of the opinion that the last several years has shown us that the world needs more anti-viral medications in its therapeutic arsenal. We believe that PD-001, with its patented enhanced cepharanthine bioavailability, can potentially serve as a multi-indication anti-viral. We look forward to further explore cepharanthine’s therapeutic prospects for Mopx and other infectious diseases,” commented PharmaDrug CEO Robert Steen.
The company has stated that it is not making any express or implied claims related to the ability of cepharanthine to treat monkeypox or other diseases.
PharmaDrug last traded at $0.055 on the CSE.
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