'Exciting breakthrough': COVID-19 drug trial to take place in Edmonton
Trials for a Canadian-developed COVID-19 treatment are set to begin at the University of Alberta.
The study will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the drug Apabetalone as a potential oral medication to help prevent severe infection from COVID-19.
“It’s a pretty exciting breakthrough,” Donald McCaffrey, the president and CEO of Resverlogix, said.
The clinical program will test epigenetics on COVID-19 patients, including those who were sick with a variant strain.
“The genetics is the hardware, the epigenetics is the software. The science of learning to turn on or off various genes,” McCaffrey explained.
The drug has been in development for more than 20 years and when COVID-19 emerged, a group of universities began studying drugs already in production that could be repurposed to help fight COVID-19. Apabetalone ended up being “number two on the list,” according to McCaffrey.
“We do have a huge lead on the world in knowledge on this (protein) and how to remove it.”
The drug is an oral pill taken once in the morning and once at night. A total of 100 patients are expected to be enrolled over the coming week to take part in the trial at various sites in Canada and Brazil.
“By removing the bromodomain (BD2) and shutting down the ACE2 receptors, you’re greatly inhibiting the virus’s ability to reproduce,” McCaffrey shared.
'WE DO NOT CHANGE THE HUMAN DNA'
The average COVID-19 hospital stay right now is 11.9 days, McCaffrey told CTV News Edmonton. That stay increases up to 23 days if the patient has cardiovascular issues. He said the cost can range from $26,000 to $52,000 per patient receiving care.
“The goal is to show that we can remove the long hospital stays.”
McCaffrey said because of Apabetalone’s unique epigenetic mechanism, it has the ability to stop disease progression by regulating the “expression” of disease and inflammation-causing genes.
“We do not change the human DNA; it remains identical,” he said. “But, we do turn the genes on or off, and that has a huge therapeutic benefit for our patients.”
In addition to reducing the duration of the disease, the hope is that the drug will also potentially be able to protect those infected from the long-term effects of long-COVID.
'IT WILL BE EFFECTIVE'
Apabetalone would cost about $7 per pill and should be taken for two to three weeks, McCaffrey said.
If the trials are successful, the team's next step would be to apply for an emergency management application in Canada in June, and then in the U.S. about six months later, McCaffrey explained.
“The vaccine is the most important thing at the moment,” Dr. Noel Gibney, professor emeritus, critical care medicine at the U of A, added. “But, we know that even with vaccination, people with critically poor immune systems are still at risk. So, it really is important that we have other therapies.”
With years of data backing the science, efficacy and safety of the drug, McCaffrey is confident it could help “manage the real problem,” which he says is the “bottleneck” in hospitals.
“No matter what Greek alphabet we get hit with next, it will be effective against all future variants.”
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Carlyle Fiset
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
LIVE | Prince Charles and Camilla land in Newfoundland to start Canadian tour
Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, have arrived in St. John's, N.L., to begin a three-day Canadian tour that includes stops in Ottawa and the Northwest Territories.

Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner carjacked at gunpoint outside Toronto movie theatre
Toronto Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner was the victim of an armed carjacking outside a movie theatre in Etobicoke on Monday night, the club confirmed on Tuesday.
Regular travel and public health measures can't coexist: Canadian Airport Council
International arrivals at Canadian airports are so backed up, people are being kept on planes for over an hour after they land because there isn't physically enough space to hold the lineups of travellers, says the Canadian Airports Council.
In Buffalo, Biden condemns racism, mourns new victims
U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden paid their respects Tuesday at a makeshift memorial to the 10 people killed in the white supremacist attack in Buffalo, confronting again the forces of hatred he frequently says called him back to seek the White House.
Indian couple sue only son for not giving them grandchildren
A couple in India are suing their son and daughter-in-law -- for not giving them grandchildren after six years of marriage.
Fall of Mariupol appears at hand; fighters leave steel plant
Mariupol appeared on the verge of falling to the Russians on Tuesday as Ukraine moved to abandon the steel plant where hundreds of its fighters had held out for months under relentless bombardment in the last bastion of resistance in the devastated city.
Trudeau says inviting Iran to Vancouver soccer friendly is not 'a very good idea'
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a soccer friendly between Canada and Iran next month in Vancouver is ill-advised. The merits of hosting Iran were raised by a reporter, citing families who had lost loved ones on Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752.
OPINION | Tom Mulcair: Legault reverting to age-old sport of Anglo-bashing
Today, there are two pieces of Quebec legislation that target religious and linguistic minorities. While he often talks about rights, Justin Trudeau has chosen to stand there, arms folded, and do nothing to defend people whose freedoms are being affected. He appears to be afraid of displeasing François Legault, writes former NDP leader Tom Mulcair in his latest column for CTVNews.ca.
Warrant issued for suspect in crash that killed Calgary mother of 5
Calgary police said in a statement issued Monday they have identified a suspect wanted in an incident that resulted in the death of a Calgary mother of five.