SaNOtize Phase II trial for COVID prevention, treatment underway in BC
By PLANT STAFF
Industry Manufacturing bioscience COVID manufacturingSeeking 210 volunteers who have tested positive or who are high risk, such as front-line healthcare workers.
VANCOUVER — Biotech company SaNOtize Research and Development Corp. has enrolled its first participant in a Phase II trial of its nitric oxide releasing solution (NORSTM) for the prevention and early treatment of COVID-19.
The Vancouver company is continuing enrolment in BC and will initiate enrolment in Quebec on June 1.
SaNOtize is seeking 210 volunteers for the trial. Eligible participants include people who have either tested positive for COVID-19, or who are at high risk of becoming infected, such as front-line healthcare workers or people sharing a household with others who have tested positive.
SaNOtize has outfitted a mobile testing unit staffed by two research coordinators that can travel to a participant’s location.
The company will receive advisory services and up to $400,000 in research and development funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP). This is in addition to a recent oversubscribed equity offering from current and new investors.
The company initiated a new equity offering to accelerate additional COVID-19 trials in the US.
SaNOtize announced on April 22 approval from Health Canada to conduct the multi-centre Phase II trial. Tests conducted by an independent antiviral research institute based in the US confirm NORS inactivated more than 99.9% of SARs-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, within two minutes, in laboratory tests.
SaNOtize has been evaluating nitric oxide (NO), a naturally occurring nanomolecule, as a first-in-class drug with the potential to be used as a topical antimicrobial agent to treat a wide variety of bacterial, viral and fungal diseases, including chronic sinusitis, diabetic foot ulcer and COVID-19.
