Small Cap Shares Moleculin Biotech Inc. MBRX,
A 43% surge in pre-market trade Tuesday, after the company said a second round of laboratory tests confirmed antiviral activity for WP1122, its candidate for treatment for COVID-19. The laboratory involved was the IIT Research Institute, an affiliate of the Illinois Institute of Technology, which conducted additional in vitro tests of the drug candidate. The test included a cell viability assay in the VERO E6 cell line infected with the coronavirus causing COVID-19 and compared the therapeutic effects of 2-DG (the active ingredient in WP1122) only with those of WP1122, a 2-DG prodrug. . The result is very preliminary; Based on FDA comments, Moleculin expects that it will need to show activity in a COVID-19 animal model to successfully submit an Investigational New Drug (“IND”) application for WP1122. The company is testing other compounds in its portfolio as treatments for COVID-19. The shares have gained 20% in the year to date,
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