On Jun. 23, 2020, Mateon Therapeutics, a leading developer of TGF-β therapeutics, announced it has selected IQVIA to manage C001, a Phase 2 randomized, controlled, multi-center clinical study of OT-101.

This study is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and effectiveness of OT-101 when used in combination with standard of care (SoC) in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.  OT-101 is a wide spectrum anti-viral agent with demonstrated activity against SARS-CoV-2 in the nanomolar range comparable to remdesivir, however, with higher safety index. By targeting the host protein, TGF-β, OT-101 avoids resistance mutations which could render vaccine and/or therapeutics against viral protein(s) ineffective.

Mateon was created by the recent reverse merger with Oncotelic which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mateon Therapeutics Inc. (OTCQB:MATN) creating an immuno-oncology company dedicated to the development of first in class RNA therapeutics as well as small molecule drugs against cancer. OT-101, the lead immune-oncology drug candidate of Mateon/Oncotelic, is a first-in-class RNA therapeutic targeting TGF beta that exhibited single agent activity in some relapsed/refractory cancer patients in clinical trial settings. The founding team members of Oncotelic were responsible for the development of Abraxane as chemotherapeutic agents for breast, lung, melanoma, and pancreatic cancer. Abraxane was approved in 2005 and has more than $1B in sales annually.