(Alliance News) - Shares in Tiziana Life Sciences PLC more than tripled in value on Wednesday after announcing it would speed up the development of TZLS-501, an antibody for the treatment of patients infected with the deadly Covid-19 virus.
Shares in Tiziana - which developed therapeutics for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases - were trading at 111.00 pence on Wednesday morning, after closing at 32.00p on Tuesday in London.
Patients infected with Covid-19, also known as the coronavirus, run the risk of developing an uncontrolled immune response, causing severe damage in lung tissue which could lead to respiratory failure and death.
TZLS-501 is a novel anti-interleukin-6 receptor monoclonal antibody, which operates by binding to both the membrane-bound and soluble forms of IL-6R and depletes circulating levels of IL-6 in the blood.
Tiziana first entered a worldwide license for composition-of-matter of TZLS-501 with Swiss biotechnology firm Novimmune SA in 2017.
An excessive production of IL-6 is considered a key driver of chronic inflammation and is believed to be associated with the severe lung damage associated with covid-9 infections and acute respiratory illnesses.
Tiziana said that early clinical studies in China have suggested that anti-IL6R antibodies could be used in clinical practice for the treatment of the disease.
"We believe that the features of TZLS-501 consisting of its dual mechanism of action to inhibit signaling by the membrane-bound and soluble IL-6 receptors along with rapid depletion of circulating IL-6 cytokine, a major cause of lung damage, provides TZLS-501 with distinct advantages for treatment of covid-19 over other anti-IL-6R mAbs such as Actemra and Kevzara for treatment of covid-19," said Chief Executive Officer Kunwar Shailubhai.
By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com
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