Benzinga | Mar 22, 2021 07:05AM EDT

RedHill Biopharma Announces Compassionate Use Treatment with Opaganib of First COVID-19 Patients in Switzerland

RedHill Biopharma Ltd. (NASDAQ:RDHL) ("RedHill" or the "Company"), a specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has acted on a request to provide opaganib[1] treatment on an outpatient basis under compassionate use exemption for several Swiss patients suffering from COVID-19 pneumonia.

Acting rapidly to ensure emergency transport and supply of drug, treatment was initiated with orally-administered opaganib within the past week. Opaganib is a novel, orally-administered sphingosine kinase-2 (SK2) inhibitor with demonstrated dual anti-inflammatory and antiviral activity, targeting a human cell component involved in viral replication and therefore expected to be effective against emerging viral variants with mutations in the spike protein.