Macromoltek ^Company

Macromoltek and Cytovia said April 7 it will expand its NK immunotherapy programs beyond cancer and infectious diseases to include COVID-19, with plans to select an NKI immunotherapy candidate to begin clinical trials by year’s end, and make it available to patients in 2021. The companies will use a bi-functional approach they said holds potential to minimize virus escape from the immune response, thereby inhibiting the intensification of the inflammation leading to Acute Respiratory Syndrome (ARS). The activation of NK cells through the NKp46 receptor aims to destroy the virus-infected cells while the other arm can either block the entry of the virus into epithelial cells or neutralize circulating viruses.