On Monday we learned from Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s top scientific adviser, that the coronavirus will probably never go away and that a vaccine will not stop it entirely. He also said ministers and experts should stop ‘promising too much’ and be realistic about the prospects for a vaccine and the likely timetable for one, unlikely before spring next year.
He then echoed his earlier warnings and those of his colleague Professor Chris Whitty that the fight against COVID-19 will be a long one and it will be with us forever.
So from this, should we assume that there is no ‘silver bullet’ for COVID-19 infections?
What if there was only one treatment that:
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could stop the infection in its tracks,
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it was anti-inflammatory; control the immune system’s response to infection and prevent it from reacting in dangerous ways,
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in cases where patients developed secondary bacterial infections in the lungs, antibiotics could be overloaded; enhancing its efficiency and effectiveness,
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it was a repurposed drug; already proven safe
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it was easy to do, scalable to the level required to make a difference in the pandemic and it was cost effective, wouldn’t that be something we should all be excited about?
Surely, although there is no such ‘silver bullet’ game-changing therapy? After all, the only treatments we hear about for COVID are those that President Trump took, that were either very new, expensive, and experimental, or had very limited application to a particular aspect of the disease.
Well, you heard it here first: such a ‘silver bullet’ treatment exists today. It’s called Nylexa®, from the small UK biotech company NovaBiotics Ltd. Its active ingredients have been used safely in medicines treating unrelated conditions for more than 30 years.
NovaBiotics discovered the potential benefits of Nylexa in COVID-19 after a decade of research in difficult-to-treat, drug-resistant infections, including complex chest infections and inflammation associated with cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease. In March they applied for a £1m grant from Innovate UK (representing the government) to start clinical studies. That grant was finally awarded earlier this month, and the government is now considering whether or not to include Nylexa in two separate NHS platform studies.
But why, I hear you ask, if this is so good, haven’t we heard of it before? Why don’t the government and the press shout this from the rooftops? Why is this not demanded by doctors desperate for effective treatments for their patients?
I’m afraid it all comes down to money. Small biotech companies find it hard to attract attention, as they don’t have the resources available to their larger, better-funded rivals. The names we regularly read about when it comes to innovative new treatments are invariably large multinational pharmaceutical companies with deep pockets and big budgets to promote their own particular products. They make sure your medications get the attention they require. NovaBiotics is a small private company funded by a group of loyal and supportive shareholders, so unfortunately it doesn’t have the resources to compete for attention with the big guys.
That is why this situation is so frustrating. By mitigating the health consequences of contracting COVID-19, Nylexa® could increase public confidence in living with the virus in the long term and potentially allow a greater degree of normalcy to return to the way we live, benefiting the economy directly. also to ease the burden of COVID-19 on the NHS and health systems globally. However, getting people in positions of influence to notice among all the others vying for their attention is really very difficult.
Thousands of potential treatments for COVID-19 are reported to be in clinical trials around the world. I would dare anyone to show me one that has the same positive impact potential as Nylexa®, but it is not currently part of any trials, despite its impeccable credentials. So come on, UK government and ministers, stick your finger out and get this drug into trials immediately. The sooner it is tested, the sooner it can be used to help solve the mess the pandemic has caused in our lives.
About NovaBiotics Ltd
NovaBiotics Ltd is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the design and development of world-class therapeutics for difficult-to-treat and medically unsatisfied infectious diseases.diseases caused by bacteria and fungi and respiratory conditions, including cystic fibrosis and COVID-19.
As a leading innovator in the field of anti-infectives, the company’s strong technology and business model have been validated through the successful development, from concept to late-stage clinical development, of its most advanced product candidates. In addition to the Nylexa® core program and the company’s other late-stage assets (Lynovex® for cystic fibrosis, NP213/Novexatin® for onychomycosis), NovaBiotics has generated a strong pipeline of high-value, early-stage drug candidates, including NP339 (Department of Health and Social Care funded program) for life-threatening drug-resistant invasive fungal diseases and NP432 for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections.
About Nylexa®
Nylexa® is a new candidate for dual antimicrobial-immunomodulatory therapy. It is a small, simple molecule that has wide-ranging antimicrobial effects by directly attacking microbes and also by modulating the body’s ability to control infection. Importantly, the active ingredient in Nylexa has a key role in infection resolution and inflammation control that NovaBiotics has exploited as a solution to COVID-19.
For bacterial infections, Nylexa is a potential solution to a public health challenge even bigger than COVID-19: the worsening crisis of biotic antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Because the active ingredient in Nylexa is repurposed and has been used in medicines for other, unrelated conditions for more than 30 years, it can potentially be introduced into clinical practice in a much shorter time frame than new antibiotic treatments developed from the beginning. Simply put, Nylexa® ‘supercharges’ existing antibiotics in bacterial infections, especially against drug-resistant bacteria.
For more information contact
Dr. Deborah O’Neil – Executive Director and CSO
0044 (0)1224 711377