The Spanish pharmaceutical company PharmaMar said on Tuesday that a paper had been published in the journal Science confirming that its drug Plitidepsin possessed “strong preclinical efficacy” in treating coronavirus.
Shortly after the stock market opened, shares of PharmaMara rose 13 percent to 98.5 euros.
Positive results
A study conducted in vitro and in vivo by a team of scientists from New York, San Francisco, and Paris showed that the drug reduces the replication of the virus, resulting in a 99 percent reduction in viral load in the lungs of animals treated with Plitidepsin, Science reported.
–Â We believe that the data available to us and the initial clinical trials of “PharmaMara” indicate that “Plitidepsin” should be considered when it comes to extended clinical trials in the treatment of Covid-19 – “Science” reported .
Negotiations with regulatory agencies
The drug, which is already approved in some markets for tumor treatment, blocks a protein associated with the Covid-19 virus.
The ability of a drug to cause toxic effects on one organ, organ system or more is well known in the past, and studies conducted so far have shown that patients tolerate the doses used, explained the company PharmaMar.
The company “PharmaMar” said that it is in negotiations with various regulatory agencies that will allow it to start the third phase of drug testing.
