NeuroRX in Radnor and Wilmington is revitalizing a drug shelved 20 years ago that now shows promise in preventing respiratory failure for patients with COVID-19, writes Queen Muse for phillymag.com.

Jonathan and Daniel Javitt founded NeuroRX in 2015 to build on existing effective therapies, bringing new treatments to market more quickly and cheaply.

NeuroRX and  Swiss biopharmaceutical Relief Therapeutics are in a Phase Ii trial of RFL-100, also known as aviptadil.  The drug was discovered in the 1970s but abandoned in the early 2000s.

“This drug was literally in 70 dusty file boxes, sitting in a warehouse,” Jonathan Javitt said. “It had been developed in the 2000s for a number of lung diseases by a major pharmaceutical company. Then the company decided it would no longer focus on treatments for the lung, so the whole project was shelved where it remained until March 1, 2020, when we picked it up.”

In animal studies, it has a potent response to respiratory distress, acute lung injury, and inflammation. In human trials, it’s been used to treat pulmonary fibrosis, asthma, and pulmonary hypertension.

It’s currently being tested for treating acute lung injury associated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Read more about NeuroRX at phillymag.com.

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