Innovation:
CEBINA's pipeline
Drawing on decades long experience in infectious disease research and product development, CEBINA’s team is active in developing a portfolio of innovative research projects.
The antihistamine azelastine as an anti-COVID-19 approach
As a short-term response to the COVID-19 pandemic, CEBINA, in collaboration with Professor Robert Konrat, a renowned structural biologist (Department of Structural and Computational Biology, University of Vienna, Austria) has applied a novel computational approach to identify compounds to be repurposed as anti-COVID-19 drugs. This approach lead to the identification of azelastine, a generic anti-histamine medication available as nasal spray. The potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of azelastine was demonstrated with in vitro viral infection testing and in a reconstituted human nasal tissue model, performed in collaboration with Professor Ferenc Jakab, Head of the BSL-4 Laboratory in the Szentágothai Research Center, University of Pécs, Hungary. CEBINA has published data demonstrating that azelastine inhibits infection by major variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Frontiers in Pharmacology (doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.861295).
Status (Q2 2022): CEBINA GmbH sponsored jointly with its partner URSAPHARM Arzneimittel GmbH a Phase 2 efficacy clinical trial demonstrating that a nasal spray containing the active ingredient azelastine is effective in accelerating the reduction of the viral load in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients.