On Mar. 20, 2020, Bellerophon Therapeutics announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had granted emergency expanded access allowing its proprietary inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) delivery system, INOpulse’, to immediately be used for the treatment of COVID-19.

NO is a naturally produced molecule that is critical to the immune response against pathogens and infections. In vitro studies have shown that NO inhibits the replication of severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and improves survival for cells infected with SARS-CoV.