HOUSTON, July 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Moleculin
Biotech, Inc., (Nasdaq: MBRX) ("Moleculin" or the "Company"), a
clinical stage pharmaceutical company with a broad portfolio of
drug candidates targeting highly resistant tumors and viruses,
today announced that a recent publication by an independent
research team at the University of Campinas in São Paulo,
Brazil demonstrated that
SARS-CoV-2 infection is supported by elevated glucose levels and
that inhibition of glycolysis with 2-deoxy-D-glucose ("2-DG")
effectively eliminated viral load in vitro.
The paper was presented in Cell Metabolism journal online (Codo
et al., Elevated Glucose Levels Favor SARS-CoV-2 Infection and
Monocyte Response through a HIF-1a/Glycolysis-Dependent Axis, Cell
Metabolism (2020)), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2020.07.007)
after peer-review and reports the findings of a research team at
the Laboratory of Immunometabolism, Department of Genetics,
Evolution, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Biology,
University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
"We believe these findings are an important additional
independent support of our approach focused on targeting glucose
metabolism to control SARS-CoV-2 and support our efforts to develop
an antimetabolite prodrug such as WP1122 as a potential new
treatment for COVID-19," commented Walter
Klemp, Chairman and CEO of Moleculin. "2-DG is the active
ingredient released from WP1122 after oral administration, and
accordingly, we believe that dual targeting of both glycolysis and
glycosylation contributes to observed biological activity.
While this paper provides a deeper understanding of how important
glycolysis is to COVID-19 and demonstrates in vitro activity of
2-DG, we believe the implications for developing 2-DG alone as an
effective new therapy would be limited due to the lack of its
drug-like properties. However, that's where WP1122 shows
promise. Our animal data shows that drug concentration and
tissue/organ distribution of 2-DG are significantly enhanced when
2-DG is delivered via WP1122."
This recently published data also further supports the findings
published in the scientific journal, Nature (Bojkova, D. et
al. Proteomics of SARS-CoV-2-infected host cells reveals therapy
targets,
Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2332-7 2020),
which reports that one of the therapeutic targets in SARS-CoV-2 is
glycolysis. This work performed by an independent research team at
the Göethe-University of Frankfurt
showed that targeting glycolysis with 2-DG stopped replication of
SARS CoV-2 in vitro. These results are consistent with
previous research reports demonstrating the antiviral activities of
2-DG in other viruses and with the Company's own antiviral testing
of WP1122. Notwithstanding the available preclinical data,
the Company believes that, without the benefit of WP1122's prodrug
structure, 2-DG's rapid metabolism and limited drug-like properties
prevent it from being sufficiently effective in vivo and that in
vivo testing of WP1122 may make its benefits more apparent.
About Moleculin Biotech, Inc.
Moleculin Biotech, Inc. is a clinical stage pharmaceutical
company focused on the development of a broad portfolio of oncology
drug candidates for the treatment of highly resistant tumors and
viruses. The Company's clinical stage drugs are: Annamycin, a Next
Generation Anthracycline, designed to avoid multidrug resistance
mechanisms with little to no cardiotoxicity, being studied for the
treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia, more
commonly referred to as AML; WP1066, an Immune/Transcription
Modulator capable of inhibiting p-STAT3 and other oncogenic
transcription factors while also stimulating a natural immune
response, being studied for brain tumors, pancreatic cancer and
hematologic malignancies; and WP1220, an analog to WP1066, being
studied for the topical treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.
Moleculin is also engaged in preclinical development of additional
drug candidates, including additional Immune/Transcription
Modulators, as well as compounds capable of
Metabolism/Glycosylation Inhibition, such as WP1122. Moleculin has
the exclusive worldwide rights (subject to certain territories for
which it has issued sublicenses) to all of the above
technologies.
For more information about the Company, please visit
http://www.moleculin.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in this release are forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act
of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve
risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this press
release include, without limitation, the ability of WP1122 to be
shown safe and effective for the treatment of COVID-19. Although
Moleculin believes that the expectations reflected in such
forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date made,
expectations may prove to have been materially different from the
results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Moleculin Biotech has attempted to identify forward-looking
statements by terminology including ''believes,'' ''estimates,''
''anticipates,'' ''expects,'' ''plans,'' ''projects,'' ''intends,''
''potential,'' ''may,'' ''could,'' ''might,'' ''will,'' ''should,''
''approximately'' or other words that convey uncertainty of future
events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements.
These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties, and other factors, including those discussed
under Item 1A. "Risk Factors" in our most recently filed Form 10-K
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and
updated from time to time in our Form 10-Q filings and in our other
public filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements
contained in this release speak only as of its date. We undertake
no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in
this release to reflect events or circumstances occurring after its
date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Contacts
James Salierno
/ Carol Ruth
The Ruth Group
646-536-7028 /
7000
jsalierno@theruthgroup.com
cruth@theruthgroup.com
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SOURCE Moleculin Biotech, Inc.