Those that believe that COVID-19 is yesterday's news should look at the Biotron Limited (ASX: BIT) share price today.
Shares in the small cap biotech jumped 37.5% to 9.9 cents each after reporting positive COVID-19 animal trial results today.
The company said that its lead clinical drug BIT225 protected mice that have SARS-CoV-2 from severe disease.
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Bitotron share price jumps on more challenging test results
This test was trickier than an earlier one the company conducted. In the latest test, the mice were infected by SARS-CoV-2 up to 48 hours before being treated with BIT225.
In the earlier study, the mice were given BIT225 12 hours before being infected by SARS-CoV-2.
The second trial was more challenging as it had a higher hurdle to demonstrate the efficacy of the drug, according to Bitotron.
Why this animal trial matters
"The results are important as they provide key information that will assist in determining the dosing regimen for BIT225 in planned human clinical studies," said the company in its ASX statement.
"The results further extend the robust in vivo data package that shows statistically and clinically significant efficacy of BIT225 in both treatment and prevention in murine models of COVID-19."
Biotron's management believes the effectiveness of BIT225 to treat and prevent severe cases of the highly contagious disease sets it apart from other treatments.
In fact, Biotron claims that this characteristic is a requirement for successful product development in this therapeutic area.
Details of Biotron's latest mice trial
In all studies, BIT225 was tested in a human-adapted COVID-19 mouse model (K18-hACE2) that is routinely used to assess the ability of drugs to target SARS-CoV-2 and treat COVID-19 disease.
There were five mice in each of the pre-dose and post-dose groups. There was also a control group with the same number of mice.
In the groups that were treated with BIT225, all but one remained healthy and continued to gain weight as per age expectations through to Day 12 when the study was terminated. One of the five mice in the post-dose group died on Day 11 of the trial.
In the control group made up of untreated mice, all lost weight and died by day eight of the study. The company noted that there was less weight gain if BIT225 treatment was delayed. But the trend lines are statistically similar regardless of when the drug was used.
Next catalyst for the Biotron share price
BIT225 was tested in a human-adapted COVID-19 mouse model (K18-hACE2) that is routinely used to assess the ability of drugs to target SARS-CoV-2 and treat COVID-19 disease.
Bitotron has submitted a proposal to the US Food and Drug Administration to conduct a human clinical trial to assess the efficacy of BIT225 for the treatment of COVID-19.
The application was made under the Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program and Biotron's management is expecting a response soon.
