Anivive Lifesciences announced the initiation of two pre-clinical studies to further evaluate the in vivo efficacy and safety of GC376 as a treatment for COVID-19.

"We are pleased with the progress of this program investigating the therapeutic potential of GC376 as both a treatment for COVID-19 and other coronavirus related diseases," said Dylan Balsz, Anivive's CEO & Founder

"We continue to honor the needs of our veterinary patients but, given the current pandemic and scarcity of effective therapies, we feel compelled to do whatever we can to help combat COVID-19," Chief Medical Officer David Bruyette, DVM, DACVIM said.

Anivive previously announced it filed a pre-Investigational New Drug (pIND) request for GC376 with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this year to advance the program for use in humans. The company licensed the exclusive worldwide rights to GC376 from Kansas State University for use as a treatment in both humans and animals.

GC376 is a novel, first-in-class, small molecule protease inhibitor with a favorable therapeutic index demonstrated in preclinical studies. A common feature of viruses in the picornavirus-like supercluster (including coronaviruses) is a 3C or 3C-like protease (3Cpro or 3CLpro, respectively) responsible for viral replication. Viruses in this family include human coronavirus 229E, transmissible gastroenteritis virus of swine (TGEV), murine hepatitis virus (MHV), bovine coronavirus (BCV), feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2). GC376 has been shown to be a potent inhibitor of this protease across all coronaviruses with a high therapeutic index.