Biopharmaceutical company Kinarus Therapeutics Holding AG (SIX: KNRS) revealed on Monday that data shows its KIN001 provides strong antiviral efficacy against the original SARS-CoV-2 strain of COVID-19 and variants of concern (VOC).

KIN001 is a proprietary patented combination of pamapimod, a highly selective investigational small molecule inhibitor of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK), and pioglitazone, a marketed drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

The company said its collaboration with virologists at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) showed that KIN001 almost completely blocked virus replication in multiple human cell lines for all SARS-CoV-2 strains, including VOC such as the highly infectious Delta and Omicron variants.

Kinarus added that it has received a grant of up to CHF7m from the Programme for COVID-19 medicines of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health to support clinical development of KIN001. The first Phase 2 clinical trial of KIN001 to treat hospitalised COVID-19 patients (KINETIC) had enrolled 130 patients as of 6 June 2022. Interim data are expected to be available late in Q3 2022.

Also, a second Phase 2 trial of KIN001 to treat ambulatory COVID-19 patients (KINFAST) has received regulatory authorisation in Switzerland and Germany and will be initiated this summer.

In addition, Kinarus disclosed that it has received regulatory authorisation to initiate Phase 2 testing of KIN001 to treat wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD). In preclinical testing KIN001 reduced pathological blood vessel growth (neovascularisation) in the choroid of the eye in animal models of wet AMD. AMD is the most common cause of visual impairment among elderly patients in developed countries. The company is also preparing regulatory submissions to start Phase 2 testing of KIN001 to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). KIN001 reduced inflammation and tissue fibrosis in animal models of lung disease, supporting its clinical development as an IPF treatment.

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