On May 5, 2021, CytoDyn announced an agreement to partner with the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital (AEIH) in Sao Paulo, Brazil for two COVID-19 trials. The COVID-19 trials in Brazil were intended to provide the Brazilian regulatory authority, ANVISA, with the requisite data to consider advancing the availability of leronlimab to thousands of Brazilians infected with COVID-19.  These two Phase 3 trials were planned to be conducted in up to 45 clinical sites.

Leronlimab has been studied in 11 clinical trials involving more than 1,200 people and met its primary endpoints in a pivotal Phase 3 trial (leronlimab combined with standard antiretroviral therapies in HIV-infected treatment-experienced patients).

Leronlimab is a viral-entry inhibitor in HIV/AIDS. It masks CCR5, thus protecting healthy T cells from viral infection by blocking the predominant HIV (R5) subtype from entering those cells. Nine clinical trials have demonstrated leronlimab could significantly reduce or control HIV viral load in humans. The leronlimab antibody appears to be a powerful antiviral agent with fewer side effects and less frequent dosing requirements than currently used daily drug therapies.

CytoDyn has successfully completed a Phase 3 pivotal trial using leronlimab combined with standard antiretroviral therapies in HIV-infected treatment-experienced patients. CytoDyn has been working diligently to resubmit its Biologics License Application (“BLA”) for this HIV combination therapy since receiving a Refusal to File letter in July 2020 and subsequently meeting with the FDA telephonically to address their written guidance concerning the submission. CytoDyn expects to resubmit its BLA via a rolling submission starting in the third quarter of calendar 2021.

CytoDyn is a late-stage biotechnology company developing innovative treatments for multiple therapeutic indications using leronlimab, a novel humanized monoclonal antibody targeting the CCR5 receptor. CCR5 appears to play a critical role in the ability of HIV to enter and infect healthy T-cells.