Relief Therapeutics expects top-line results from a U.S. phase IIb/III trial of RLF-100 in severe COVID-19-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome early in the fourth quarter of this year, it said on Tuesday.
Its chairman had said in a newspaper interview last month he saw a 60-70% chance of the drug, also called aviptadil, winning regulatory approval in COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus.
Relief Therapeutics says aviptadil, a synthetic vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, is the first COVID-19 therapeutic to block replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in human lung cells.
Chairman Raghuram Selvaraju said in the company's interim results statement on Tuesday he was "excited about the strong progress already made in the past few months to advance this important programme".
He added that the company was fully financed to complete the two U.S. COVID-19 trials underway and is now preparing for European trials with RLF-100.
(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
