Potential COVID treatment under development in St. Pete
June 23, 2020 - ViralClear Pharmaceuticals has signed an agreement with Catalent to work on the development of a potential treatment for adults with COVID-19. Under terms of the deal, Catalent will develop two oral dosage forms of ViralClear's broad-spectrum anti-viral agent, merimepodib. ViralClear, a subsidiary of BioSig Technologies (Nasdaq: BSGM) is investigating the potential of merimepodib to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus, either as a standalone treatment or in combination with other anti-viral agents or immune modulators, a news release said. The work will take place at Catalent's 453,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in St. Petersburg. It's the primary softgel development and manufacturing facility in the U.S. for Catalent (NYSE: CTLT), a contract development and manufacturing company based in Somerset, New Jersey. Catalent has several other deals with biopharma companies working on COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, including an agreement with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ). Under that deal, Catalent would use its plant in Bloomington, Indiana for commercial manufacturing of J&J's lead COVID-19 vaccine candidate.