Novateur Ventures unveils new strategy to analyze, treat deadly COVID-19 induced hyperinflammatory response

A new strategy created by Novateur Ventures for treating deadly COVID-19 induced hyperinflammatory response in multiple organs was released to the public this week through the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology.

Co-authored by Ali Ardakani, founder and managing director of Novateur Ventures, and Dr. Colin Funk of Queen’s University, A Novel Strategy to Mitigate the Hyperinflammatory Response to COVID-19 by Targeting Leukotrienes identifies and analyzes lipid mediators — leukotrienes — as the cause of severe COVID-19 cases’ inflammatory issues. To date, only two drugs — remdesivir and dexamethasone — show any real capability to treat this, and even those are modest.

“Our journey studying COVID-19 and potential therapeutics is still at an early stage,” Funk said. “We hope that our proposed treatment plan can effectively stop COVID-19 from becoming a life-threatening disorder. Novateur will continue to concentrate its efforts on this global pandemic that has claimed the lives of so many. It is important to recognize the sharing of critical data and the very collaborative approach this fight has taken. We are working diligently with unprecedented speed to move a clinical trial forward as quickly as possible in the USA, where cases of COVID-19 are high.”

Noting that improvement is needed in treatment, the pair have looked at utilizing two generic drugs meant for blocking inflammation in asthma patients’ airways to target that response in severe COVID-19 patients. The drugs, Zyflo and Singulair, have been extensively studied and long-used over the years, so they represent known quantities.

However, another difficulty is the fact that currently, it’s difficult to tell who will come down with severe COVID-19 disease. Most treatment consists of controlling symptoms and observing any progression. Novateur Ventures wants to see its drug combination added as an early treatment method for one and all, to reduce the possibility of that hyper-inflammatory response advancing. Lack of early treatment can lead to out-of-control host inflammatory response and pulmonary edema, the study warns.