Aptorum Group Limited (Nasdaq: APM) ("Aptorum Group"), a
biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel
therapeutics for unmet needs including but not limited to
infectious, orphan and metabolic disease areas, today announced
that it is initiating an additional research and development
project targeting the coronavirus group and has completed initial
screening under the Smart-ACT™ platform, a repurposed and new drug
discovery platform, to select, out of more than 2,600 approved
small drug molecules, at least 3 potential candidates for further
preclinical investigation against the new coronavirus disease,
COVID-19. Aptorum Group is collaborating with Toronto based Covar
Pharmaceuticals and has also entered into agreement with the
University of Hong Kong’s Microbiology Department to conduct
further preclinical investigation of the selected candidates prior
to seeking approval from regulatory agencies to initiate clinical
trials on suitable candidates.
In particular, Aptorum Group will focus on investigation of at
least three small molecule drugs (collectively “SACT-COV19”), that
have shown potential interference against two enzyme targets,
namely, 3CL-Protease and RNA dependent RNA Polymerase (“RDRP”),
with both playing pivotal roles in COVID-19’s replication cycle.
Specifically, 3CL-Protease is believed to mediate viral replication
and transcription functions through extensive proteolytic
processing, while RDRP is an enzyme that is believed to catalyze
the replication of viral RNA from its RNA template. These selected
candidates will undergo further preclinical assessment on efficacy
against COVID-19. Aptorum Group has filed patent applications on
the above candidates.
For the ongoing investigation and preclinical work, Aptorum
Group is collaborating with Toronto based Covar Pharmaceuticals and
also Aptorum Group has contracted with the University of Hong Kong
to conduct this work. Covar Pharmaceutical’s team (comprised of
professionals previously from Patheon and Glaxo Wellcome)1 is
highly experienced in drug discovery and development supported by
its GMP manufacturing facility. The University of Hong Kong’s
Microbiology team was instrumental in the discovery of SARS virus
during the 2003 epidemic2, as well as currently being actively
involved, in their own respective research interests, in developing
vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus3 and COVID-19 related
monitoring physical device with other third parties4.
Aptorum Group will also seek additional collaborators globally
for driving its development of SACT-COV19 initiatives forward and
welcomes interested parties to contact us to discuss collaboration
opportunities.
Aptorum Group, as part of its existing pipeline, is also
developing a number of infectious disease indications under its
Acticule platform, including, but not limited to, a unique
antiviral small molecule candidate (ALS-1) against Influenza virus
and also, as its lead program, an anti-virulent, non-bactericidal
small molecule candidate (ALS-4) against Staphylococcus aureus
infections, amongst other projects, for which Covar Pharmaceuticals
is also currently supporting its development in North America.
Mr. Ian Huen, Chief Executive Officer of Aptorum Group said,
“COVID-19 disease is highly contagious and has spread across the
world causing significant disruptions and casualties in the
process. The confirmed cases globally have exceeded 700,000 as of
today’s date5 and the World Health Organization has declared
COVID-19 as a pandemic. Despite a growing number of both
established and early stage pharmaceutical companies rushing to
develop vaccine based therapies for COVID-19, we believe there is a
need to tackle this disease multi-dimensionally and urgently. In
order to accelerate development, our aim is to identify candidates
from already approved drugs, that have established safety, toxicity
and pharmacokinetic clinical profiles, to be repurposed for
treatment of COVID-19. In addition, due to the ongoing mutation and
evolution of this coronavirus, we cannot rule out that there may be
further strains of this coronavirus emerging in the near future and
therefore, the world must be prepared to deal with such challenges
swiftly and collectively in order to minimize casualties and
economic loss. We believe that Aptorum Group’s Smart-ACT™ platform
in conjunction with our existing Acticule infectious disease
development capabilities and as supported by Covar Pharmaceuticals,
is well-positioned to develop potential solutions and to deliver
our share of contribution to the world on this disease as well as
others.”
About Smart-ACT™ Platform
The Smart-ACT™ platform is a proprietary systematic process
combining both computational approach and wet laboratory validation
under which Aptorum Group constantly screens over 2,600 approved
small molecule drugs in order to identify candidates that can be
repurposed for selected orphan or unmet diseases. The overall
strategic aim is to significantly shorten R&D costs and the
timeline to effectively deliver patentable repurposed drug
candidates into clinical trials and efficiently achieve eventual
market commercialization.
About Aptorum Group Limited
Aptorum Group Limited (Nasdaq: APM) is a pharmaceutical company
dedicated to developing and commercializing novel therapeutics to
tackle unmet medical needs. Aptorum Group's current drug pipeline
include indications in orphan diseases, infectious diseases and
metabolic diseases and a number of which are targeted to enter
clinical trial phases in 2020. Aptorum Group’s Dioscorea Opposita
Bioactive Nutraceutical Tablets, which is a dietary supplement for
women’s health during menopause and post-menopause cycles, are
currently being commercialized.
For more information about Aptorum Group, please visit
www.aptorumgroup.com.
Disclaimer and Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes statements concerning Aptorum Group
Limited and its future expectations, plans and prospects that
constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For this purpose,
any statements contained herein that are not statements of
historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In
some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms
such as "may," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates,"
"could," "intends," "target," "projects," "contemplates,"
"believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue," or
the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. Aptorum
Group has based these forward-looking statements, which include
statements regarding projected timelines for application
submissions and trials, largely on its current expectations and
projections about future events and trends that it believes may
affect its business, financial condition and results of operations.
These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this
press release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties
and assumptions including, without limitation, risks related to its
announced management and organizational changes, the continued
service and availability of key personnel, its ability to expand
its product assortments by offering additional products for
additional consumer segments, development results, the company’s
anticipated growth strategies, anticipated trends and challenges in
its business, and its expectations regarding, and the stability of,
its supply chain, and the risks more fully described in Aptorum
Group’s Form 20-F and other filings that Aptorum Group may make
with the SEC in the future. As a result, the projections included
in such forward-looking statements are subject to change. Aptorum
Group assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking
statements contained in this press release as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
1 https://www.covarpharma.com/
2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3747526/
3 https://fightcovid19.hku.hk/tag/vaccine/
4
https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3073869/hong-kong-researchers-join-us-tech-start-remotely-monitor-covid-19
5
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
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Investors: Tel: +852 2117 6611
Email: investor.relations@aptorumgroup.com
Media: Tel: + 852 2117 6611
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