Peptides and proteins company Relief Therapeutics Holdings AG (SIX:RLF)(OTC:RLFTF) said on Thursday that NeuroRx Inc has received the Investigational New Drug (IND) permission to test RLF-100 (aviptadil) for inhaled use in patients with moderate and severe COVID-19.

The company added that the clinical trial of the inhaled formulation of RLF-100 is expected to begin on or before 1 September 2020. The first phase will commence with patients hospitalized for severe COVID-19 who do not yet have respiratory failure and the trial will expand to patients at home with mild and moderate COVID-19 in order to prevent the need for hospital admission.

According to the company, RLF-100 (aviptadil) is a patented formulation of Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide (VIP), which is highly concentrated in the lungs and inhibits a variety of inflammatory cytokines.

COVID-19-related death is primarily caused by respiratory failure, but there is evidence of early viral infection of the alveolar type 2 cells. Injury to the type 2 alveolar cells is an increasingly plausible mechanism of COVID-19 disease progression (Mason 2020). These specialized cells replenish the more common type 1 cells that line the lungs, concluded the company.