Drug development company NeuroRx Inc announced on Wednesday that it has filed a request for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) with the US FDA for the use of RLF-100 aviptadil in critical COVID-19 patients who are receiving intensive care and who have exhausted all approved treatments under a global partnership with Relief Therapeutics Holdings SA (SIX:RLF)(OTCQB:RLFTF).

The company added that the submission is based on a case-control study that compared patients who were treated with RLF-100 to those receiving maximal standard of care treatment in the same ICU by the same medical staff. Patients treated with RLF-100 demonstrated a three fold advantage in survival, recovery from respiratory failure and other parameters indicative of meaningful clinical improvement.

In conjunction, RLF-100 (Aviptadil) is a formulation of Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide (VIP), which is known to be highly concentrated in the lungs, where it inhibits coronavirus replication, blocks the formation of inflammatory cytokines, prevents cell death and upregulates the production of surfactant. Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide (VIP) was first discovered by the late Dr Sami Said in 1970.

Additionally, the COVID-19-related death is primarily caused by respiratory failure. Before this acute phase, however, there is evidence of early viral infection of the alveolar type 2 cells. These same type 2 alveolar cells have high concentrations of VIP receptors on their cell surfaces giving rise to the hypothesis that VIP could specifically protect these cells from injury, concluded the company.