Halifax Company To Start Trial Of Possible Covid-Fighting Drug
HALIFAX — Health Canada has given a Halifax company the green light to start testing a drug that could fight the Covid-19 virus.
Appili Therapeutics Inc. says it will start Phase 2 clinical trials of the antiviral drug favipiravir in early June.
Favipiravir is already used as a flu-fighting drug in Japan. It was approved there in 2014 as a possible countermeasure for use in a flu pandemic. But researchers still don’t know for sure how effective the drug is against Covid-19.
That’s what Halifax’s Appili intends to find out.
Kimberly Stephens, the CFO of Appilli, says the company is taking its trial directly to the places where the impact of Covid-19 is being felt the most: long-term care facilities.
“What we’re really excited about is that we’re taking a very unique approach to this trial,” Stephens says. “More than 50 percent of the deaths that are happening with Covid-19 are with the elderly. So our approach is to try to get ahead of it and try to prevent the outbreak of the disease.”
In fact, data from the National Institute of Aging shows that 81 percent of deaths related to Covid-19 have been in long-term care facilities.
Stephens explains that more than 750 care residents and staff from 16 long-term care homes will take part in Appili’s trial. If more than two people in a facility test positive for Covid-19 everyone in the facility will be given favipiravir.
This will help researchers understand if the drug can prevent the spread of the virus and reduce the burden of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities.
“What we’re trying to do is to say, you know, as everyone is aware Covid-19 is asymptomatic for a period of time before people even realize they have the disease. We’re trying to get ahead of it and get the drug into these patients as a prophylactic to make sure the disease doesn’t take over and cause respiratory illness,” Stephens says.
She says the trial will start in early June and could yield results anywhere from three to 12 months. Some Covid-19-related testing of favipiravir has already taken place in China, with initial encouraging signs, so Stephens says she is extra hopeful Appili’s Canadian results will be good.
If the trial is successful and favipiravir is approved in Canada, Stephens says the drug could potentially be used as both a preventative measure in the event of a Covid-19 outbreak and depending on additional studies, it could also potentially be approved as treatment for people already infected with Covid-19.
Although the drug can’t be used as a vaccine, Stephens says it could still play a very important role in helping vulnerable elderly populations who don’t always respond well to vaccines.