TFF Pharmaceuticals has announced agreements for feasibility studies with vaccine developer GreenLight Biosciences and with NeuroRx. TFF is performing studies to determine if dry powder formulations of GreenLight’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate and NeuroRx’s Zyesami aviptadil can be successfully created using TFF’s thin film freezing technology.
According to TFF, the goal for the GreenLight vaccine would be to create a shelf stable dry powder for either inhaled or intranasal delivery. The goal for Zyesami would be to create a dry powder inhalation formulation. NeuroRx recently initiated a Phase 2/3 clinical trial of nebulized Zyesami for the treatment of severe COVID-19.
TFF Pharmaceuticals President and CEO Glenn Mattes said, “We are excited to partner with GreenLight Biosciences on their unique messenger RNA production platform. Their platform technology represents a breakthrough in efficient production of messenger RNA vaccines, and by combining both of our technologies, this collaboration could be a real game changer for people around the world suffering through this pandemic.”
In regard to the NeuroRx study, Mattes said, “The work being done by the NeuroRx team with Zyesami on behalf of critically ill patients with COVID-19 respiratory failure is both remarkable and gratifying. The potential opportunity to bring this important new therapeutic to patients earlier in the treatment cycle is exciting. We are very pleased to be collaborating with the NeuroRx Team with our thin-film freezing technology.”
GreenLight Biosciences CEO Andrey J. Zarur commented, “Overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic requires a large volume of second generation vaccines that adapt rapidly and can be delivered to all parts of the world, regardless of local cold chain infrastructure. Thin film freezing has the potential to deliver on this promise by reformulating the complex messenger RNA molecules of our vaccine candidate into a shelf-stable powder readily reconstituted by a healthcare worker just prior to injection.”
NeuroRx CEO Jonathan C. Javitt said, “We are excited that Zyesami has demonstrated a highly significant reduction in time to hospital discharge for seriously ill COVID-19 patients treated with high flow nasal oxygen, along with an increased likelihood of recovery and excellent safety. Although our current production methods yield a drug that is sufficiently stable for emergency use, a long-term, shelf-stable formulation will be needed for ongoing use of Zyesami, once the pandemic subsides. The thin-film freezing technology holds great promise in potentially making this available to patients with other stages of COVID-19 with an inhaled form of Zyesami.”
TFF also has its own pipeline and initiated a Phase 1b trial of its voriconazole inhalation powder in December 2020. The company also has a tacrolimus inhalation powder in Phase 1 development. In August 2020, the company announced that Union Therapeutics had acquired an option to license TFF’s dry powder niclosamide. Earlier this year, TFF said that in vitro testing confirmed the efficacy of mAB against Ebolavirus and an rVSV vaccine candidate against equine encephalitis virus that were formulated using the company’s TFF technology.
Read the TFF Pharmaceuticals press release on GreenLight Biosciences.
Read the TFF Pharmaceuticals press release on NeuroRx.
