Logan company joins in developing drug for high-risk coronavirus patients

A Logan-based company and a Texas pharmaceutical developer have announced their collaboration on a therapeutic drug for COVID-19, which is showing promising results for patients who are at high risk of deteriorating health due to age or conditions such as kidney or cardiovascular disease.

Frontier Scientific, located in Logan, and Renibus Therapeutics of Southlake, Texas, said the compound they developed, RBT-9, has been awarded Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and has demonstrated both antiviral and immune-modulating activities in preclinical studies.

Dustin Cefalo, vice president at Frontier Scientific, said they’ve been manufacturing the compound for almost 30 years for research purposes. And with the current global pandemic, their research may be a breakthrough for treating the coronavirus. The compound is currently going through clinical trials, he said.

“We are very excited to see the results of the trials,” Cefalo said. “If it works as expected, if could help a lot of people.” The results of the clinical trials should be coming out in the next two to three weeks. 

“We will see in the coming weeks if the compound works as expected,” Cefalo said. “The compound works by reducing the ability of the virus to replicate while reducing the runaway inflammation seen with COVID patients and it should also protect the lungs, heart, kidneys, etc., from damage.”