Tiziana Life Sciences seeks UK funding for 'take-home' nasal COVID-19 treatment

Tiziana Life Sciences PLC (NASDAQ:TLSA, LON:TILS) said it applied for UK government funding for its nasally administered antibody therapy under a scheme looking for ‘take-home treatments’ for sufferers of Coronavirus (COVID-19). Grants are being awarded to companies developing medicines that will prevent people with the illness from being hospitalised. Foralumab, Tiziana’s fully human anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, has shown early promise in treating the symptoms of the virus. Results from its Brazil study showed it induced “immunomodulatory effects capable of providing clinical benefit to COVID patients”. Importantly, the direct delivery of Foralumab using a ‘take-home’ nasal spray rapidly suppressed lung inflammation and reduced inflammation markers. In the same announcement, Tiziana said it is preparing for a second COVID-19 trial in Brazil targeting hospitalised patients to assess if Foralumab could benefit patients with severe inflammation. “Since nasal administration with Foralumab is an immunomodulatory approach, it is possible that this take-home treatment approach could be useful for the treatment of other COVID-19 variants, including the variants identified in South Africa, Brazil, the UK and the Delta variant in India,” the drug developer added.