Emory University subsidiary DRIVE has received the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its investigational new drug application of antiviral compound EIDD-2801 to treat Covid-19.
The approval allows human clinical trials by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics in the US. Ridgeback Biotherapeutics exclusively licensed the compound.
Discovered and developed by the university, EIDD-2801 is an orally available compound that works by preventing the replication of SARS-CoV-2.
In animal models, the drug candidate demonstrated activity against SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. EIDD-2801 is also capable of activity against several diseases, including Ebola, influenza, chikungunya and equine encephalitis.