Santa Monica Startup Develops Drug Candidate To Fight Coronavirus

SANTA MONICA, CA — A biopharmaceutical startup helmed in Santa Monica has produced a new drug candidate to treat coronavirus with antiviral activity. MAX BioPharma's product is intended to reduce illness caused by the virus in an infected patient, the Santa Monica Mirror reported.

The potential treatment is reportedly made up of semi-synthetic oxysterols, dervied from a collection of sterol molecues created by MaxBioPharma. The drug candidate was created in collaboration with scientists at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo, Japan.

Read more from the Santa Monica Mirror: Santa Monica’s MAX BioPharma Develops New Drug Candidate to Treat COVID-19

The treatment is intended to stop the virus from wreaking havoc in the body and could afford the immune system extra strength to fight back against it more effectively, Dr. Farhad Parhami told the Mirror. Parhami is the Founder, president and CEO of MAX BioPharma.

"Despite the vaccines that have been produced to target Covid-19, given the apparent difficulties in mass producing these vaccines, the potential need for frequent vaccination, and the fact that they may not work on new mutants of the virus, there is an urgent need for therapies that can treat Covid-19 in an effective, patient friendly, safe, and cost-effective manner," Parhami said in a news release.

The start up is also in the process of developing several new medicines for a number of cancers, Parhami told the Mirror.