BioCryst Pharmaceuticals is developing its drug galidesivir as a potential treatment for more than 20 RNA viruses. But SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, will no longer be one of them.
The Durham company has reported early stage clinical trial results showing that treatment with the experimental antiviral offered COVID-19 patients no benefit compared to a placebo. The study wasn’t designed to demonstrate clinical efficacy, and small Phase 1 clinical trials typically enroll healthy volunteers to assess a drug’s safety before testing the drug on sick patients. Galidesivir achieved the safety measure with no serious problems associated with the drug.
Nevertheless, the BioCryst study, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), failed to provide signs that the drug could treat COVID-19 infection.
Galidesivir is an investigational broad-spectrum antiviral drug that was safe and well tolerated in previously reported Phase 1 trials in healthy subjects. Galidesivir has demonstrated broad-spectrum activity in vitro against more than 20 RNA viruses in nine different families, including the coronaviruses that cause MERS and SARS.