On Jul. 13, 2021, RELIEF THERAPEUTICS reported that its collaboration partner, NRx Pharmaceuticals, and Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative announced that they had begun treating patients with inhaled aviptadil in the I-SPY COVID Trial (NCT04488081), a phase 2 adaptive platform trial aimed at improving treatment for severely and critically ill COVID-19 patients.

Relief focuses primarily on clinical-stage programs based on molecules with a history of clinical testing and use in human patients or a strong scientific rationale. Relief’s lead drug candidate, RLF-100^TM (aviptadil), a synthetic form of Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP), is in late-stage clinical testing in the U.S. for the treatment of respiratory deficiency due to COVID-19.

As part of its pipeline diversification strategy, in March 2021, Relief entered into a Collaboration and License Agreement with Acer Therapeutics for the worldwide development and commercialization of ACER-001. ACER-001 is a taste-masked and immediate release proprietary powder formulation of sodium phenylbutyrate (NaPB) for the treatment of Urea Cycle Disorders and Maple Syrup Urine Disease. In addition, Relief’s acquisition of APR Applied Pharma Research brings a diverse pipeline of marketed and development-stage programs.