FDA approves Israeli therapy drug Aviptadil for coronavirus treatment trials

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gives green light to NeuroRx, a US-Israeli pharmaceutical company, and Relief Therapeutics, a Swiss drug development company, for phase two trials for a drug that could take on a deadly condition associated with coronavirus COVID-19.

The two companies announced that the FDA issued a “study may proceed” letter — which does not amount to a full-fledged drug approval — for the substance to be tried on COVID-19 patients. The researchers are hoping that Aviptadil will be able to take on the so-called Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) — a condition that has killed about 50 percent of COVID-19 fatalities.

ARDS is a respiratory system failure induced by rapid and severe lung inflammation, with shortness of breath — a symptom widely associated with COVID-19 — among its key signs.

It effectively brings to a halt the oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange in the patient’s lungs, necessitating the use of an artificial lung ventilation machine.