Since its inception, Moleculin Biotech, Inc., has been scaling its operations in the development of treatment of highly resistant tumors and viruses. The company has built a wide range of portfolio of oncology drug candidates. In line with this, it has partnered with Sterling Pharma USA LLC to support the expansion of the production of WP1122.
The support is significant. It comes at a time when the company is preparing to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) status for WP1122 to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Other drugs from the company, which are in their clinical stage, include Annamycin, a Next-Generation Anthracycline, for combating multidrug resistance. It is being studied for the treatment of refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
The Mechanism of Action of 2-DG and WP1122 Are Different From Other Drugs
Since the emergence of COVID-19 a few months ago, there have been hundreds of studies and clinical trials of vaccines aimed at treating or combating the virus’s spread. This also explains why Moleculin is expanding its preclinical studies for the IND of WP1122 against various viruses in vitro.
The CEO of Moleculine, Walter Klemp, says, “In light of the added complexity surrounding drug production during the current COVID-19 pandemic, we wanted to make sure we had a reliable source of drug supply located here in the US.”
However, different drugs have different mechanisms of action and particularly those for COVID-19. This includes 2-DG and WP1122. The former targets glucose metabolism and the progression of glycosylation.
Meanwhile, Klemp has explained that they are not pursuing an IND for WP1122 just for the treatment of COVID-19 and its potentiality in treating other viral infections or certain cancers.
The breakthrough is here, says Klemp
The CEO says that the company has had a tough but fulfilling journey. It is at a position whereby it is experiencing massive breakthroughs and from unexpected sources. Being able to access data before it is published is a big milestone, but even then, this was made possible by the authors’ willingness to pre-release this data. It will help in fast-tracking the development of WP1122.
