Chimerix's CMX521 Antiviral Program Shows Potential Against COVID-19 In Preclinical Studies

Chimerix Inc's (NASDAQ: CMRX) preclinical data from its CMX521 program will be featured at the International Conference on Antiviral Research (ICAR) in March.

• In vivo, studies were performed in an animal model used during the development of a different antiviral therapy that obtained FDA Emergency Use Authorization for SARS-CoV-2.
• Monotherapy prophylactic administration of aerosol CMX521 every eight hours starting eight hours before infection reduced average viral titers in the lung on day four post-infection by 3.62 log10 (over 99.9% reduction) and prevented weight loss/clinical progression versus placebo. 
• Antiviral efficacy was also demonstrated with monotherapy treatment when CMX521 was initiated post-infection. CMX521 treatment significantly reduced SARS-CoV-2 in the lung and protected mice from clinical symptoms of the disease, including weight loss and adverse lung pathology at day four post-infection relative to placebo.
• In addition, oral CMX521 demonstrated a favorable profile in GLP toxicology studies and was well-tolerated up to 2,400 mg in a healthy volunteer Phase 1 study for a different indication.
• Price Action: CMRX shares are up 2.73% at $5.24 during the market session on the last check Thursday.