Benzinga | Feb 10, 2021 01:31PM EST

Hoth Therapeutics Highlights Publication Of Whitepaper Related To COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 In bioRxiv

Hoth Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOTH), a biopharmaceutical company, today announced that Scientific Advisory Board member, Michael Peter, Ph.D., published a whitepaper in bioRxiv regarding COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 titled, "Transformations, Comparisons, Analysis of Down to Up Protomer States of Variants of the SARS-CoV-2 Prefusion Spike Protein including the UK Variant B.I.I.7."



The research reported in the whitepaper uses computational modeling to further understand critical protein-protein binding interactions that facilitate the critical interface of viral cellular entry (and therefore infection) of coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2 virus. The focus of the study is to investigate protein sequence mutations of this interface to predict potential virulence as it relates to the emerging variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

In June 2020, Hoth entered into a sponsored research agreement for the exclusive license to a panel of novel peptide therapeutics targeting this critical protein binding interface for SARS-CoV-2 (identified as HT-002) with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) as a potential COVID-19 treatment. The research is being conducted under the leadership of Dr. Michael Peters. The research reported in the whitepaper supports the development work of these novel peptide therapeutics by providing theoretical insights for targeting SARS-CoV-2 virus strain variants.