AiCuris gets involved in the fight against Corona

• Support of local hospitals and cooporation with the North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) Ministry of Health
• Screening of selected proprietary compounds to identify a possible drug candidate for the treatment of Covid-19

WUPPERTAL, Germany, 02. April 2020 - AiCuris Anti-infective Cures GmbH, a leading company in the discovery and development of drugs against infectious diseases gets involvedin the fight against SARS-CoV-2 (Corona).

"In times like these, biotech and pharmaceutical companies have a great societal responsibility" said Dr. Holger Zimmermann, Chief Executive Officer of AiCuris. "We must ask ourselves how we can best help in such a situation. AiCuris has decided to provide unbureaucratic relief measures locally together with partners on short notice, and also evaluate suitable drug candidates in order to fight the current pandemic with united forces and at the same time prepare for future viral outbreaks."

Short-term help for local and regional hospitals and health centers in the particularly heavily affected North Rhine-Westphalia

In parallel to the daily rapid increase in the number of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 the demand on the number of tests to detect the virus also increases. These tests are currently a very important measur in the fight against the virus. Fast diagnosis helps to quarantine infected patients quickly and thus prevent the spread of the virus to other people. Hospitals, medical practices and test stations are already reaching their capacities. The federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, one of the most heavily affected states in Germany, is trying hard to increase its capacity for testing for SARS-CoV-2 infections. In cooperation with partners, AiCuris makes use of its expertise, network and laboratories to support clinics in the region and the NRW Health Minister in the field of diagnostics to help fill the capacity gap.

A faster option against the noval virus if successful: testing of already existing drug compounds

For more than a decade, AiCuris has successfully developed new drugs against various viruses such as human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), the herpes simplex virus (HSV), the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and adenoviruses and has already, via its partner MSD, launched their first highly effective product onto the market. It takes years to develop new, innovative drugs to fight a viral infection, and even with the latest technologies, it will probably take at least six to twelve months to prove the safety and effectiveness of new vaccines. Therefore, even if approval processes are accelerated due to the current situation, it will take some time until a vaccine is available. A faster option in the event of success is the identification of available drugs that are developed or have already been approved for use against other diseases ("repurposing") which could be efficacious against SARS-CoV-2. AiCuris is currently intensively working to evaluating proprietary compounds to identify a possible active agent against Covid-19.

About AiCuris Anti-infective Cures GmbH

AiCuris was founded in 2006 as a spin-off from Bayer and focuses on the discovery and development of drugs targeting infectious diseases. SANTO Holding is the Company's majority investor. PREVYMIS(R) (Letermovir), a first-in-class non-nucleoside cytomegalovirus (CMV) inhibitor acting via a novel mechanism of action, was licensed to MSD in 2012 and is approved in the EU, the USA, Japan and other parts of the world for use in bone marrow transplants for the prevention of HCMV infections in adults who receive an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant. The Company is developing drugs for the treatment of viruses such as human CMV, herpes simplex virus (HSV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and adenoviruses. In the field of antibacterials, AiCuris seeks to develop innovative treatment options for life-threatening, multidrug-resistant, hospital-treated pathogens.

In 2018 Prof. Dr. Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff, Founding CEO, and Dr. Holger Zimmermann, CEO of AiCuris, were awarded the German Future Prize 2018 (German President's Award for Innovation in Science and Technology) for the development of Letermovir and their project, "Protection in the Absence of the Immune System - a Life-Saving Innovation against Dangerous Viruses" (original title: "Schutz bei fehlendem Immunsystem - die lebensrettende Innovation gegen gefährliche Viren").

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