Pedro A. Muñoz .
80.7% of patients have been discharged before day 15 of hospitalization, and 38.2% before day 8 (according to the protocol, there must be a minimum admittance period of 7 days). And by day 30, none of the patients had developed symptoms or signs of infection from COVID-19. PharmaMar will soon begin a Phase III registration study.
A few days before this news, the company’s president, José María Fernández Sousa-Faro, gave an interview to The Corner. He spoke about the good results of this drug and the high expectations of it joining the catalogue of Covid-19 mitigating remedies. The commitment to the fight against the pandemic is logically unavoidable for this company. It was created in 1986 as a biotechnology subsidiary of the former Zeltia, which it absorbed in 2015.
A: Knowing the virulence and dangerousness of the virus we face, PharmaMar could not sit idly by. It looked into its therapeutic arsenal to see what it could do to help curb the pandemic. After some initial in vitro trials with the CSIC and Dr. Luis Enjuanes’ coronavirus laboratory, we observed that plitidepsin acted effectively against the coronavirus by preventing its replication, by blocking the EF1A protein, which is essential for this process. And after several weeks of waiting, the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Healthcare Products authorized us a Phase I/II clinical trial of which we will soon know the results.
A: It all comes from the research carried out with plitidepsin to fight the coronavirus. And in view of the challenge to which society is exposed in the event of suffering a new global pandemic which paralyses our economy, our health systems, our behavioural habits… With this aim in mind, we have created a new Virology Unit to research, develop and provide medicines for viral diseases for which there are still no effective treatments. Logic tells us that, as in the case of bacteria with antibiotics, the best antivirals can be found in nature. It is precisely in the sea where most viruses exist – 10 million viruses per milliliter of water – and where they have existed for the longest time. Let’s remember that life began in the sea 3.8 billion years ago and the first inhabitants were bacteria and their viruses. And, coincidentally, PharmaMar is the world leader in the search for drugs with marine origin. That said, it should come as no surprise that plitidepsin is the most powerful antiviral described to date. At the moment, we have the APLICOV-PC clinical trial underway to evaluate the safety and efficacy of plitidepsin at three dose levels. It has been shown in different pre-clinical studies to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 and other types of coronavirus. The results of this first study are expected to be available at the end of October or early November.
Q: Let’s change the subject. PharmaMar has just started trading on the Ibex35 after a year of good results and an over 100 percent appreciation in its share price. What does this mean for the company’s future?
