Tiziana Life Sciences upbeat on potential for coronavirus treatment

How it is doing Shares have soared recently on the potential for Tiziana’s (LON:TILS) TZLS-501 to be useful for people severely ill with coronavirus-related complications. TZLS-501 is a class of monoclonal antibody (mAb) called an anti-interleukin-6 receptor, or anti-IL6R for short. In November, it began a clinical study of the drug administered either alone or in combination with dexamethasone, a corticosteroid medication.   The day-to-day work is coordinated by the team at the INTRIALS, a clinical research organization based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Other drugs in development  Also in November, the AIM-listed firm started preparing to embark on a clinical study of what would be the first orally-taken home treatment for Crohn’s Disease using a monoclonal antibody. It is collaborating with Parexel Biotech, a subsidiary of the contract research giant Parexel, to conduct the phase Ib/II trial of a coated pill containing Foralumab, a fully-human mAb. In doing so, researchers from Europe and the US will assess for safety, tolerability and clinical activity of escalating doses of the treatment.   Read: initiation note on Tiziana Life Sciences: Transformational potential   What the boss says: Howard Weiner, head of Tiziana’s scientific advisory board “We believe the scientific rationale for oral treatment with Foralumab is logical to facilitate topical action at the inflamed sites in the gastrointestinal tract. This potentially ground-breaking approach for immunotherapies originated in my laboratory and was subsequently reported by other researchers in the field."   Video   Inflexion points Clinical trials for coronavirus treatment Nasally administered Chron's Disease treatment   Click here to read Proactive analyst Emma Ulker's latest research note on 'Tiziana Life Sciences: Advancing the therapeutic pipeline' What the broker says HC Wainwright, a Wall Street investment bank which rates the firm a ‘buy’ up to US$11, said in September it sees “meaningful upside” to its valuation of Tiziana Life Sciences. “We note that our current valuation does not include any contribution from the use of foralumab to treat COVID-19-infected patients. “Thus, if the Brazilian trial proves successful, this could constitute meaningful upside to our estimates.”