The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) may be sinking lower today, but that hasn't stopped the Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX: SPL) share price from rocketing higher.
In morning trade the dendrimer products developer's shares zoomed a massive 46% higher to $1.36.
This left its shares trading within sight of their 52-week high.
Why is the Starpharma share price rocketing higher?
Investors have been fighting to get hold of Starpharma's shares after the release of a late announcement on Wednesday evening.
According to the release, Starpharma's proprietary VivaGel active, astodrimer sodium (SPL7013), has been shown in laboratory studies to have significant antiviral activity against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The release explains that SPL7013 inhibited the infection of cells with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The finding was validated by replicate testing against a positive control compound, Gilead's remdesivir, which is considered a leading candidate for the treatment of COVID-19.
Management notes that SPL7013 was reported to be the best performing test compound against SARS-CoV-2 in the laboratory's assay to date.
What now?
With these positive results, Starpharma is evaluating product concepts and formulation options for SPL7013. These may have potential applications in the prevention and management of COVID-19.
Positively, as SPL7013 is already approved as the active component of two marketed VivaGel products and these products have regulatory approval in Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia and South East Asia, the company believes it should be possible to fast-track certain aspects of the development path for products targeted at COVID-19.
It will now commence additional short-term preclinical studies and will confirm the pathway with regulatory authorities. A new patent has been filed following receipt of these coronavirus results.
Starpharma's CEO, Dr Jackie Fairley, commented: "We are very pleased to find that the compound is highly active against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and we are now exploring a number of product opportunities, including a potential preventative application to reduce the risk of infection."
"Such a product could provide additional personal protection including for those in the frontline of this crisis, such as doctors, nurses and other essential workers, and is in keeping with Starpharma's strategy to expand commercial applications of our dendrimers. We are very pleased to be in a position to potentially help with the effort in overcoming the current global COVID-19 pandemic," she concluded.
