Traws Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRAW) ("Traws Pharma", "Traws" or "the Company"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing oral small molecule therapies for the treatment of respiratory viral diseases, today announced progress in the development of its investigational one-dose influenza (flu) investigational therapy, tivoxavir marboxil for treatment of H5N1 bird flu.
"The spread of avian influenza in wild and domestic animal populations including mammals, brings increasing risk for adaptation to humans and subsequent spread in the population" said Robert R. Redfield, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Traws Pharma and former Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "Bird flu is an occupational hazard for poultry and dairy workers. With increasing numbers of human infections and recent reports of severe cases, we should be alert to the rising potential for epidemic or pandemic spread of bird flu."
"In laboratory testing, tivoxavir marboxil inhibited multiple isolates of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1. We evaluated the effects of drug treatment in mice exposed to human H5N1, where the virus was isolated from a dairy worker exposed to infected cattle," said C. David Pauza, PhD, Chief Science Officer for Traws Pharma. "Oral treatment with tivoxavir marboxil after the virus infection resulted in complete survival and lung virus levels below the limit of quantitation1. This result is highly encouraging for future clinical development of tivoxavir marboxil for treating human H5N1 influenza."
