Relief Therapeutics Breakthrough Could Reduce Covid-19 Mortality

At the Last Futurist, we are fan of innovative small-cap biotech companies like Relief Therapeutics. While the micro cap market is in a sea of red, there was one bright spot today. $RLFTF. So what?

Relief is a biopharmaceutical company with its lead compound RLF-100™ (aviptadil) in advanced clinical development to treat severe COVID-19 patients. You have to smile when a small company says they deal with unmet medical needs. But we think this is a winner. The stock is currently $0.46 at the time of writing and in this article we’ll deal with their most recent findings.

You can read the PR here.

• NeuroRx Announces that ZYESAMI™ (Aviptadil) has Successfully Demonstrated 10-Day Accelerated Recovery from Respiratory Failure in Critically Ill Patients with Covid-19 Treated with High Flow Nasal Oxygen at 28-Day Interim Endpoint.
• The trial was conducted at 10 U.S. hospitals under the direction of NeuroRx in collaboration with RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding AG (SIX: RLF; OTCQB: RLFTF).

So this is quite promising for long-term ICU patients with Covid-19. With more variants we may see another wave in the Autumn of 2021. The clinical trial was originally approved as a 28-day study at FDA’s direction. In December, NeuroRx added a 60-day endpoint based on the recognition that the traditional 28-day endpoint adopted in the 1990s for trials in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome is not appropriate for critically ill patients with Covid-19, who are frequently maintained in the ICU with advanced technologies well beyond this time point.

At 28 days, patients treated with ZYESAMI™ demonstrate 35% higher likelihood of recovery from respiratory failure with continued survival compared to patients treated with placebo (Hazard Ratio 1.53; P=.08).

I’m not an academic but this seems very possibly an important breakthrough in how we deal with serious cases. Should these trends continue through day 60, they have the potential to reach statistical significance.

At day 28, a highly significant 10-day difference in median time to recovery and hospital discharge has emerged in ZYESAMI-treated patients compared to those treated with placebo (P<.006).

Probable EUA for to Reduce Covid-19 Mortality

Should the above trends continue through day 60, NeuroRx anticipates filing a request for Emergency Use Authorization in this population of critically ill patients (i.e. those on High Flow Nasal Oxygen) who have exhausted all currently approved treatments.

In the seven months that have elapsed since the trial began, mechanical ventilation has gone from first-line therapy to treatment of last resort for patients with Covid-19. As the variants evolve and herd immunity proves temporary, we might be needing treatments like this well into the Winter of 2022.

Given the stock’s price point, it’s a solid bet on an important inhaled treatment for severe Covid-19 cases. The company is based on Geneva. The stock was up 15.44% today, February 23rd, 2021. We are likely to see further gains tomorrow due to the news.