CnPharm New Drug Substance 'Polyplatin' Reduces Toxicity by up to 91% Compared to Existing Drugs
Excellent RNA Replication Blocking Function...Successfully Eliminates Major Obstacle of Toxicity
[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] A path has opened to treat the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), an 'RNA virus disease,' using platinum-based drugs with excellent virus RNA replication blocking functions.
Hyundai Bio announced on the 14th that its major shareholder, C&Pharm, confirmed that its pain-free anticancer drug No. 2, 'Polyplatin,' developed with its advanced drug delivery system (DDS), reduced toxicity by as much as 91% compared to cisplatin, a platinum-based anticancer drug, in toxicity comparison cell experiments.
The platinum-based drug 'cisplatin' is noted as a promising treatment for completely curing coronavirus if the issue of cytotoxicity is resolved, due to its excellent virus replication blocking function. Polyplatin is an advanced new drug substance processed with C&Pharm's DDS and toxicity control technology applied to cisplatin.
C&Pharm explained that in cell experiments measuring cell viability, which indicates the degree of intracellular toxicity expression, cisplatin showed 17.9 micromolar (uM), whereas 'Polyplatin' recorded about 11 times higher at 189.9 micromolar (uM). This means that Polyplatin, which contains cisplatin as the base drug, reduced toxicity by 91% compared to cisplatin.
RNA viruses are viruses whose genetic information is composed of RNA. When they invade the body, they replicate their genetic information to proliferate, causing various malignant diseases such as COVID-19, MERS, Ebola, and AIDS. RNA viruses frequently mutate during the replication process of their genetic information for proliferation, making vaccine or treatment development difficult.
The pharmaceutical industry has focused on platinum-based anticancer drugs, which bind well to viral RNA, as promising candidates to treat diseases caused by such RNA viruses. However, due to the severe side effects caused by drug toxicity, 'drug repurposing' has not yet been realized.
Platinum-based anticancer drugs have such high RNA selectivity that the American Chemical Society (ACS) published in its journal that their binding affinity to RNA is up to 20 times greater than to DNA. Therefore, it is expected that binding to the RNA of the COVID-19 virus can block viral RNA replication, resulting in therapeutic effects against COVID-19.
C&Pharm plans to immediately enter preclinical trials to use Polyplatin, developed as a low-toxicity anticancer drug, as a COVID-19 treatment like Polytaxel, while also exploring fast track procedures.
Docetaxel, the base drug of Polytaxel, has been reported in the American Society for Microbiology journal to inhibit viral infection by 40-50%, and recently has been selected as a major candidate for COVID-19 treatment in overseas papers, attracting attention. Polytaxel, C&Pharm's first pain-free anticancer drug, showed more than double the tumor growth inhibition rate compared to Abraxane (Nab-paclitaxel), an existing pancreatic cancer treatment, even when administered at 30 times the No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) dose in efficacy comparison experiments.
A C&Pharm official stated, “Although hydroxychloroquine has side effects such as cardiotoxicity, it has a mechanism that blocks virus invasion by alleviating intracellular acidity,” and added, “If toxicity is resolved, it could become a COVID-19 treatment drug like Polytaxel and Polyplatin.”
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