About
Mucpharm is a specialised oncology company focused on the treatment of mucin-containing and secreting cancers. Mucpharm was established by our group of clinicians and scientists, who specialise in treating patients with advanced cancers of the peritoneum. In attempting to improve patient outcomes, our laboratory research work lead to the discovery of our drug BromAc, which removes mucin from cancer cells and sensitises cancer cells to chemotherapy agents. Mucin is a barrier to cancer therapy due to chemoresistance, invasiveness and metastasis.
BromAc was initially discovered when we were screening for a drug for pseudomyxoma peritonei, a rare disease of the appendix that our clinical team treats. BromAc is being developed for this disease and as a chemosensitiser for peritoneal cancers
After learning that the structure of the COVID-19 virus had similar properties to the types of cancer our drug works for, we sought to test the drug on the virus and found that BromAc dissolved the spike and envelope proteins
Live virus work was then performed at Lyon University, France, where they confirmed that BromAc removed the spike protein from the virus, which prevented infection. We continue to work with France and with the National Institutes of Health in the USA and Sao Paulo University in Brazil.
The team is now seeking ethics approval to commence a clinical trial in Melbourne
Find out more about the Australian medtech company MucPharm that is supporting this research.
Q&A
How does the drug work?
There are two components of the drug that work together to dissolve the spike protein of COVID-19. This spike is crucial for the virus to infect other cells.
One of the components is derived from pineapples and was discovered when pigs that ate the fruit experienced fewer gastro-intestinal complaints.
Scientists believe in the early stages of COVID, the virus replicates in the nose and throat and then spreads into the lungs and other parts of the body.
The drug would be administered in the nose and throat to contain the virus and render it unable to infect further.
How do we know the drug works?
Laboratory tests have shown this drug can successfully render COVID-19 unable to infect other cells.
The drug has been tested for safe use in humans and we’re now moving into the next phase of testing its effectiveness in COVID-positive patients.
The next phase is expected to be using the drug patients who have tested positive to COVID. Researchers hope to see the rapid disappearance of the virus within days.
What could be the impact of the treatment?
Laboratory tests have shown this drug can successfully render COVID-19 unable to infect other cells. This is a significant step forward for treating COVID-19.
The drug could be administered to COVID positive people as a nasal spray to confine COVID to the nose and throat and prevent lung infection.
The drug could be administered to COVID positive people and increase the chance of preventing other people from becoming infected.
The drug could be administered to COVID negative people as a preventative agent, eg health care or aged care workers.
What could be the next steps if proven effective?
Researchers are interested in testing the new drug in a care setting at a major hospital to see if it can be used by doctors, nurses and other at-risk essential staff to prevent COVID infection.
This is an Australia discovery and, if proven effective, we’d like to work with Australian governments to ramp up production for use firstly in Australia and then in other countries.