The Noxopharm Ltd (ASX: NOX) share price has been a strong performer on Monday.
The clinical-stage drug development company's shares were up as much as 13% to 63 cents at one stage today.
The Noxopharm share price has since pulled back and is now trading just 3.5% higher at 57.5 cents.
Why is the Noxopharm share price rocketing higher?
The Noxopharm share price was given a big boost this morning from the release of a positive announcement.
That announcement reveals that the company is positioning its Veyonda (idronoxil) product as a COVID-19 treatment. This is based on a well-tolerated and selective anti-inflammatory action.
According to the release, this follows an important discovery about the anti-inflammatory mechanism of action of idronoxil through its partnership with Hudson Institute of Medical Research.
The release reveals that the discovery is the identification of the enzyme, TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1), as the molecular target of idronoxil in terms of its anti-inflammatory properties.
However, it is worth noting that the discovery is not yet peer reviewed in a scientific publication. A submission is anticipated in two months.
Management commentary
The Hudson Institute's Associate Professor and Head of the Nucleic Acids and Innate Immunity Laboratory, Michael Gantier, said: "TBK1 is a point of convergence of many inflammatory pathways, and a target under significant investigation by several big pharmaceutical companies. Our latest findings, which are being prepared for publication, demonstrate that idronoxil may have applications in a range of diseases where TBK1 facilitates aberrant inflammation."
"Critically, TBK1 also directly controls production of interferon-beta, a cytokine associated with long-COVID symptoms. This suggests that idronoxil may not only be useful to prevent progression of COVID-19 patients from mild to severe disease, but also may decrease the risk of long-lasting post-infectious symptoms, seen in up to half of COVID-19 patients," he added.
The Noxopharm share price is up 22% since the start of the year.
