Benzinga | Mar 3, 2021 08:02AM EST

Hoth Therapeutics Offers Update On Its Novel Peptide COVID-19 Therapeutic HT-002 Preclinical Studies: 1 Of 3 Peptide Candidates Has Demonstrated Low Level Viral Inhibition Assay With No Toxicity

Hoth Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOTH), a patient focused clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, today provided an update on preclinical study on HT-002 for the prevention and/or treatment of Sars-CoV-2, or COVID-19.



The novel peptide therapeutic, HT-002, in which Hoth Therapeutics holds an exclusive license, targets inhibition of SARS-COV-2 virus cell infection is under development at Virginia Commonwealth University ("VCU"). There are 3 leading peptide candidates that have been optimized chemically to maximize the potential viral inhibition. These candidates are currently under investigation using live SARS-CoV-2 viral inhibition assays to determine the level of viral inhibition in vitro. One of the peptide candidates has demonstrated low level viral inhibition assay with no toxicity to the host cell. One or more of the optimized peptide candidates may be combined to achieve maximum viral inhibition.

Peptide sequence modeling analysis supports that these optimized peptides could be effective against the emerging UK and South African SARS-CoV-2 strain variants.

The research is being led by inventor Michael H. Peters, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering at VCU, College of Engineering. Hoth Therapeutics continues to fund Dr. Peters research through a sponsored research agreement with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).