CytoDyn to Present at Wall Street Reporter’s Livestream Event on July 9, 2020 at 1:30 pm ET / 10:30 am PT
July 08, 2020 5:34pm EDT
VANCOUVER, Washington, July 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CytoDyn Inc. (OTC.QB: CYDY), (“CytoDyn” or the “Company"), a late-stage biotechnology company developing leronlimab (PRO 140), a CCR5 antagonist with the potential for multiple therapeutic indications, announced today Nader Pourhassan, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of CytoDyn, and Scott Kelly, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of CytoDyn, will provide a comprehensive business and clinical trials update. The Wall Street Reporter’s event is scheduled for Thursday, July 9, 2020 at 1:30 pm ET / 10:30 am PT. The presentation will be approximately 15 minutes followed by a Q&A session of approximately 45 minutes.
Date: Thursday, July 9, 2020
Time: 1:30 pm ET / 10:30 am PT
Access: https://www.wallstreetreporter.com/next-superstock-online-investor-conference/
Interested participants are encouraged to login early prior to the start of the event. Please note that there will be no telephone access; this is a webcast only event. The livestream presentation will be archived for 30 days. For anyone unable to attend, a video will be posted on CytoDyn’s website approximately 24 hours after the presentation. The conference sponsor provides corporate visibility services to CytoDyn for a fee.
About Coronavirus Disease 2019
CytoDyn has met its 75-patient enrollment target in its Phase 2 clinical trial for COVID-19, a randomized clinical trial for mild-to-moderate COVID-19 population in the U.S. and enrollment continues in its Phase 2b/3 randomized clinical trial for severe and critically ill COVID-19 population in several hospitals throughout the country.
SARS-CoV-2 was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China. The origin of SARS-CoV-2 causing the COVID-19 disease is uncertain, and the virus is highly contagious. COVID-19 typically transmits person to person through respiratory droplets, commonly resulting from coughing, sneezing, and close personal contact. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some causing illness in people and others that circulate among animals. For confirmed COVID-19 infections, symptoms have included fever, cough, and shortness of breath. The symptoms of COVID-19 may appear in as few as two days or as long as 14 days after exposure. Clinical manifestations in patients have ranged from non-existent to severe and fatal. At this time, there are minimal treatment options for COVID-19.
About Leronlimab (PRO 140) and BLA Submission for the HIV Combination Therapy
The FDA has granted a Fast Track designation to CytoDyn for two potential indications of leronlimab for deadly diseases. The first as a combination therapy with HAART for HIV-infected patients and the second is for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Leronlimab is an investigational humanized IgG4 mAb that blocks CCR5, a cellular receptor that is important in HIV infection, tumor metastases, and other diseases, including NASH. Leronlimab has completed nine clinical trials in over 800 people, including meeting its primary endpoints in a pivotal Phase 3 trial (leronlimab in combination with standard antiretroviral therapies in HIV-infected treatment-experienced patients).
In the setting of HIV/AIDS, leronlimab is a viral-entry inhibitor; it masks CCR5, thus protecting healthy T cells from viral infection by blocking the predominant HIV (R5) subtype from entering those cells. Leronlimab has been the subject of nine clinical trials, each of which demonstrated that leronlimab could significantly reduce or control HIV viral load in humans. The leronlimab antibody appears to be a powerful antiviral agent leading to potentially fewer side effects and less frequent dosing requirements compared with daily drug therapies currently in use.
The Company filed its BLA for Leronlimab as a Combination Therapy for Highly Treatment Experienced HIV Patients with the FDA on April 27, 2020, and submitted additional FDA requested clinical datasets on May 11, 2020. After the FDA deems a BLA submission complete, it sets a PDUFA goal date. CytoDyn has Fast Track designation for leronlimab and a rolling review for its BLA, as previously assigned by the FDA. The Company filed a request for Priority Review designation for its BLA to shorten the FDA’s review time from 10 to 6 months, an FDA goal for BLA applications given Priority Review designation.
In the setting of cancer, research has shown that CCR5 may play a role in tumor invasion, metastases, and tumor microenvironment control. Increased CCR5 expression is an indicator of disease status in several cancers. Published studies have shown that blocking CCR5 can reduce tumor metastases in laboratory and animal models of aggressive breast and prostate cancer. Leronlimab reduced human breast cancer metastasis by more than 98% in a murine xenograft model. CytoDyn is, therefore, conducting a Phase 1b/2 human clinical trial in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer and was granted Fast Track designation in May 2019.
The CCR5 receptor appears to play a central role in modulating immune cell trafficking to sites of inflammation. It may be crucial in the development of acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) and other inflammatory conditions. Clinical studies by others further support the concept that blocking CCR5 using a chemical inhibitor can reduce the clinical impact of acute GvHD without significantly affecting the engraftment of transplanted bone marrow stem cells. CytoDyn is currently conducting a Phase 2 clinical study with leronlimab to support further the concept that the CCR5 receptor on engrafted cells is critical for the development of acute GvHD, blocking the CCR5 receptor from recognizing specific immune signaling molecules is a viable approach to mitigating acute GvHD. The FDA has granted “orphan drug” designation to leronlimab for the prevention of GvHD.