AI Study: Synthetic Cannabinoid + Favipiravir Presents Viable Treatment Against Viral Infections, Including COVID

Tetra Bio-Pharma Inc. TBPMF TBP JAM, announced results from the study of Onternabez combined with Favipiravir against ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome), sepsis, and COVID-19 through PREPAiRE, an AI powered platform which purposely integrates target identification, validation, lead discovery optimization, drug synthesis, and preclinical testing.

Results from the study demonstrate that Tetra's investigational therapeutic, ARDS-003, which contains the active pharmaceutical ingredient Onternabez, acts against various ARDS and sepsis targets, such as IL-6 and IL-8. Onternabez plays an important role in mitigating the inflammatory response in various targets of inflammatory conditions.

Favipiravir acts against different SARS-CoV-2 targets, such as spike glycoprotein and nucleoprotein. The interaction between Favipiravir and Onternabez against SARS-COV-2 yields a positive molecule synergy probability which is considered significant and justifies the combination of the two drugs to create a new therapeutic that is expected to be beneficial to increase treatment efficacy and reduce the duration of disease. Favipiravir can control the source of infection. Onternabez would contribute to the antiviral efficacy and can control the result of infection (i.e., the inflammatory response).

Dr. Guy Chamberland, CEO and chief regulatory officer at Tetra stated "We are very pleased by these artificial intelligence results as well as the recent positive results from the PIONEER trial. This underscores our commitment with Cellvera to developing an innovative combination drug candidate to combat viral diseases. We are more excited than ever about our collaboration with Cellvera and the possibility of delivering the next scientific breakthroughs."

Cannabinoids and COVID-19

According to IUPHAR/BPS Guide to pharmacology, Onternabez is a form of synthetic cannabinoid, which acts as a CB₂ receptor agonist and has anti-inflammatory activity. Recent research has shown that natural cannabinoids can be effective against COVID-19 too. Cannabinoid acids in hemp - cannabigerolic acid, or CBGA, and cannabidiolic acid, also known as CBDA have the ability to bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein – the virus that causes COVID-19. By binding to the spike protein, these acids can block the virus from reaching into cells and causing infection.

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Photo: Courtesy of CNW Group/Tetra Bio-Pharma Inc.

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