As the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has evolved, so too has the response.
The reality of the outbreak has caused a noticeable and rapid shift in response from the public and private sector. Seemingly overnight, what was once a far-away precaution became a very present exercise in prevention, and now, mitigation.
The days of hoping the coronavirus doesn’t affect us are over, but the days of dealing with the coronavirus for some countries are only starting to begin. That’s led to a coordinated response from governments to ensure health officials are properly equipped and staffed, health systems don’t get overwhelmed, and data is assessed from countries that have already been suffering from the virus. Governments have been clear; we’re doing what we can but there’s more that everyone can do.
The public healthcare sector has been quick to take up the call-to-action. Some companies have helped roll out coronavirus tests in the US where the CDC was lacking, others have sped up the development of necessary respirators and masks, and everyone is gauging whether or not their products and technologies can be helpful.
The markets and investors eager for positivity in the current climate have been searching for those helpful companies as well, and this week they found
XORTX Therapeutics Inc.(
CSE:XRX,
OTC:XRTXF,
Forum). As the number of patients that have been affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus has swelled, so has the data on their symptoms and sufferings. In assessing the most serious cases of hospitalization and death in mainland China, a clear factor is that people suffering from acute kidney injury and acute pulmonary injury have worse outcomes. XORTX Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies to treat and assist with kidney diseases, realized it may have the tools to help.
On March. 16, the Company announced the filing of a
provisional patent for the potential treatment of respiratory and kidney disease injury due to coronavirus infection.
In the immediate aftermath of its release, shares of XORTX were up as high as 100%, with trading volume quickly topping 500 thousand shares.
The Company had been making significant progress in the development of Oxypurinol formulations for treatments of progressive kidney disease, and the latest filing of the coronavirus-specific treatment, XRx-101, capitalized on its findings. The CEO of XORTX Therapeutics, Allen Davidoff, commented on the significance of the drug:
“XORTX has begun a comprehensive review of the potential for XRx-101 to be a novel treatment for Coronavirus infection and its health consequences. Oxypurinol is a well studied drug that is known to be clinically safe and effective at decreasing production of uric acid, as well as a potential anti-viral agent. Owing to its advanced development status, Oxypurinol could be quickly developed to help treat those most severely affected by COVID-19 and coronavirus infection in the future.”
It’s key to note the important role current data played in realizing the need for treatment such as XORTX Therapeutics’ XRx-101. When early reports of COVID-19 infections were released, they initially suggested a lower incidence of acute kidney injury, but recent reports have continued to show higher frequencies of renal abnormalities, and studies of coronavirus infections like SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 identify acute kidney injury as an independent risk factor for patients’ mortality rates.
A more recent study of 59 patients with COVID-19 that found 34% of patients developed massive albuminuria (a marker of kidney disease that reveals too much albumin in urine) on the first day of admission to a hospital, with 63% in total developing albuminuria or other types of proteinuria during their stay. The recent patent from XORTX Therapeutics works to decrease the production of uric acid and to increase aqueous solubility of uric acid, suggested to be an
inflammatory factor and
negatively correlated to albuminuria.
The potential of XRx-101 is to suppress viral infection and protect kidneys threefold, however, and a major reason for investor excitement. First, Oxypurinol has previously been studied for potential anti-viral properties. Second, XRx-101 decreases the production of uric acid, and historic human and animal data show that acute tissue injury can lead to rapid accumulation of uric acid and uric acid crystals that aggregate in kidneys, inducing acute kidney injury. When acute kidney injury accompanies pneumonia, post-discharge outcomes are worse than either diagnosis alone. Most impressively, XORTX Therapeutics is already in advanced stage clinical trials for its technologies, and Oxypurinol has in the past received an “Approvable Letter” from the US FDA, potentially accelerating development of this program for XRx-101.
In looking to determine the likelihood that XORTX Therapeutics is able to successfully patent its Oxypurinol formulation, investors have a lot of factors to consider. Traditionally, the biggest factor for biotech approval is precedence, and the wave of positive clinical trials showing the benefit of decreasing uric acid in kidney disease and positive feedback from the FDA is a precedent for success. More importantly, however, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is both present and increasing in severity, and the hunt is on for cures and treatments. Despite the mortality rate of COVID-19 reporting to be lower than SARS and MERS, it seems to make up for the setback by being more contagious than both.
At the end of the day, the reality emanating from countries dealing with the current COVID-19 and future coronavirus pandemics is that many more patients are yet to come. Doctors are looking for as much help in treatment as they can get, and governments are looking to the private sector where possible to pitch in. All-in-all, the time for XORTX Therapeutics to contribute, and benefit, is right now.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.