GT Biopharma up 20% on plan for coronavirus treatment

Thinly traded nano cap GT Biopharma (OTCQB:GTBP +20%) is, yet another, would-be player in the rush to develop a drug to treat COVID-19.

This morning, it announced a collaboration agreement with contract development and manufacturing services provider Cytovance Biologics aimed at advancing a TriKE candidate for severe acute respiratory syndrome associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, the coronavirus causing the current outbreak.

Under the terms of the deal, the companies will focus on producing enough product for preclinical studies using Cytovance’s E. coli-based Keystone Expression System. Production will be scaled up with Cytovance’s GMP microbial manufacturing platform for human trials.

TriKEs (Tri-specific NK cell Engager) are small single-chain fusion proteins that bind to a certain receptor on natural killer (NK) cells, eliciting a more durable and potent immune response. GT’s first TriKE candidate was GTB-3550 for the potential treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3550190-gt-biopharma-up-20-on-plan-for-coronavirus-treatment