University of British Columbia & International Team Discover rsACE2 may Inhibit COVID-19 & Trial to Commence

A University of British Columbia investigator led an international team that has discovered an experimental drug that effectively blocks the cellular door to SARS-CoV-2 used to infect its hosts (humans). The group previously offered the first genetic evidence that Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the critical receptor for SARS-CoV and that ACE2 protects the lungs from injury—hence pointing to the molecular rational for severe lung failure and associate death because of SARS-CoV infections. This important work results from a collaboration of prominent academic researchers and companies such as Vancouver’s STEMMCELL Technologies and individuals and institutions from Spain, Canada, and Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet. This multinational research effort concludes that an investigational treatment called APN01 may be capable of inhibiting COVID-19 by reducing the SARS-CoV-2 load that penetrates the lungs and other organs. A Vienna Austria-based biotech named Aperion Biologics will now take APN01 into clinical trials in Europe.