MADRID, March 13 (Reuters) - Spanish pharmaceutical company Pharma Mar PHMR.MC said on Friday tests carried out in test tubes with its cancer drug Aplidin on samples of a virus similar to the COVID-19 coronavirus were encouraging.
Investigators from Spain's biotech centre Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia del Centro Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas showed Aplidin has a positive effect on multiplication and propagation of the virus, Pharma Mar said in a statement on Friday.
The company will contact regulatory authorities to analyse the possibility of testing the drug on patients with the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Aplidin is marketed in countries like Australia as a treatment for certain blood cancers.