RedHill Biopharma secures federal BARDA funding for opaganib in Ebola treatment

RedHill Biopharma announced that the U.S. government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority – BARDA -, a center of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, has selected opaganib for development to treat exposure to Ebola virus disease. Under this cost-sharing contract, BARDA will provide partial funding for the company to further advance opaganib to mitigate infection and contain EBOV outbreaks. To date, opaganib has made positive development progress on the expected Animal Rule pathway towards potential approval as a treatment for EBOV. Opaganib delivered a statistically significant increase in survival time when given at 150 mg/kg twice a day in a U.S. Army Medical in vivo EBOV study, making it the first host-directed molecule to show activity in EBOV. Opaganib also recently demonstrated a distinct synergistic effect when combined individually with remdesivir, significantly improving potency while maintaining cell viability, in a U.S. Army-funded and conducted in vitro EBOV study. Opaganib is currently also in development for multiple oncology, viral, inflammatory and diabetes and obesity-related indications, including COVID-19, acute respiratory distress syndrome and radiological and chemical protection or mitigation.