TAIPEI, Taiwan and San Diego, California, Nov. 09, 2023 -- Senhwa Biosciences, Inc. (TPEx: 6492), a drug development company focusing on first-in-class therapeutics for oncology, rare diseases, and infectious diseases, announced today that their first patient has been successfully dosed in Taiwan Phase II Study of Silmitasertib (CX-4945) in Hospitalized Adults with COVID-19. The study is conducted in National Cheng Kung University Hospital.
Prior to this COVID-19 phase II study, Silmitasertib was investigated in two investigator-initiated trials (IIT) in the United States and has showed clinical benefits by accelerating the recovery speed in patients with mild, moderate or severe symptoms of COVID-19. Silmitasertib targets host cell CK2 protein and this unique approach is expected to be clinically effective against the SARS-CoV-2 variants and other viruses such as influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).
According to the latest publication “Risk of autoimmune diseases in patients with COVID-19” published in eClinicalMedicine, part of The Lancet Discovery Science, found that COVID-19 is associated with a different degree of risk for various autoimmune diseases. Their findings showed that the COVID-19 cohort exhibited significantly higher risks of rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and other autoimmune diseases versus those without COVID-19 in the study. Viruses play a significant role in the environmental factors that affect human immune system and now SARS-CoV-2 has the potential to be added to the list.
Silmitasertib works by inhibiting CK2 protein kinase, which have implicated in regulation of several signaling pathways that are important for innate immune responses. CK2 inhibitors dampened NF-κB activation in macrophages and consequent IL-1, IL-6 and IL-10 cytokine secretion by these cells in response to viral infection. In viral infection settings, CK2 inhibition also reportedly boosts type I IFN production in macrophages. Senhwa regards this phase II trail as proof of concept study to demonstrate Silmitasertib can be a therapeutic strategy that would be effective in treating immune diseases and the global value of the relevant treatment has reached 100 billion US dollars, which is the second largest drug market after cancer.