HONG KONG, Mar 30, 2020 - (ACN Newswire) - 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
http://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
Contacts
Investors:
Tel: +852 2117 6611
Email: investor.relations@aptorumgroup.com
Media:
Tel: + 852 2117 6611
Email: info@aptorumgroup.com
Source: Aptorum Group Limited
Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. |