Atossa Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ATOS) has released a video message acknowledging Breast Cancer Awareness Month and encouraging women to go for mammograms.
Pandemic affecting breast cancer screening
In the video, CEO Steven Quay said that the global pandemic had changed everything regarding breast cancer testing, stating that the majority are not seeking mammograms ever since the inception of the COVID-19 outbreak. The CEO’s sentiments are corroborated in an article that appeared in the October 2021 issues of Preventive Medicine journal, indicating that this is a major challenge for women of color and those in low-income brackets.
Atossa commences AT-201 clinical studies in Australia
Recently the company commenced participants enrolment in the AT-H201 clinical study in Australia. AT-201 is a nebulized formula the company is developing as an inhalation therapy for patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 and long-haul patients having pulmonary infection disease.
Quay said, “Even with vaccines becoming widely available, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be an urgent global health crisis. Enrolling the first two participants in this study marks a significant milestone in our goal of ultimately developing nebulized AT-H201 to improve lung function in patients with active disease, which may reduce the number of patients requiring ventilators, and in ‘long-haul’ patients who have residual pulmonary function damage. Up to one third of hospitalized patients have pulmonary function changes 60 days or more after recovering from COVID. The portability of nebulizers, already routinely used for other chronic lung disease, should allow for treatment at home.”
AT-201 is a novel combination of two drugs previously approved for the treatment of other diseases and administration through other routes. The formulation is meant to be inhaled through a nebulizer to enhance compromised lung function in hospitalized COVID-19 patients as well as long-haul patients having post-infection pulmonary disease. The company completed in-vitro testing of the combination in May 2020 with At-201 showing potential of inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infectivity of VERO cells.
