On Apr. 8, 2020, Mateon Therapeutics announced that its COVID-19 directed antiviral screening program discovered that Artemisinin is highly potent at inhibiting the ability of the COVID-19 causing virus (SARS-CoV-2) to multiply while also having an excellent safety index. Artemisinin is a natural derivative from the Asian herb Artemisia annua and has been used to treat malaria.

The company plans to seek additional support to evaluate clinical proof of concept studies to show the potential of Artemisinin to treat SARS-CoV-2 virus infection and COVID-19 complications. The addition of Artemisinin provides the company with a number of candidates to address the SARS-CoV-2 virus with a combination of therapies including its leading drug candidate OT-101 and its antisense platform targeting the COVID-19 viral sequence.

Artemisinin derived from Chinese herb Artemisia annua L. (Sweet wormwood) has been used medicinally to treat fevers for centuries in China. Like other potential COVID-19 therapeutic agents such as Hydrochloroquine and Remesidivir, the efficacy of Artemisinin remains to be tested in well controlled and sufficiently powered clinical trials.  However, given the known safety profile and the widespread use of Artemisinin the company anticipates that clinical development of Artemisinin can be abridged to effectively deal with the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The availability of Artemisinin as a pre-existing dietary supplement may allow it to be deployed immediately in developing countries where the healthcare system can easily be overwhelmed.  Its safety is clearly superior to chloroquine and remesidivir.  The company intends to work with partners who have distribution networks in developing countries to provide a clean supply to avert a humanitarian crisis.

Mateon was created by the recent merger with Oncotelic – a developer of TGF-beta RNA therapeutics- and PoinTR- a cluster computer vision empowered blockchain company creating an immuno-oncology company dedicated to the development of first in class RNA therapeutics as well as small molecule drugs against cancer.