Catalent, the leading global provider of advanced delivery technologies, development, and manufacturing solutions for drugs, biologics, cell and gene therapies, and consumer health products, announced a collaboration with Ennaid Therapeutics to develop an oral, antiviral treatment targeted at COVID-19. Under the terms of the agreement, Catalent will develop a powder-in-capsule formulation of Ennaid’s ENU200 program, a patent-pending, repurposed oral antiviral drug.
ENU200 was selected by Ennaid as a candidate to treat COVID-19 following a bioinformatic search for in silico identification of prior-approved chemical compounds blocking the coronavirus proteins, spike-S glycoprotein and the key coronavirus enzyme, Mpro. Catalent’s development site at San Diego will manufacture roller-compacted formulations of ENU200 within capsules for further investigation.
“During this pandemic we have seen that numerous companies are looking to repurpose existing antiviral drugs to target COVID-19, and we are supporting our development partners in reacting quickly and effectively to manufacture material for clinical trials,” commented Jonathan Arnold, President, Oral and Specialty Delivery at Catalent. “Our experience with similar formulation and manufacturing processes and overcoming scale up challenges with roller compaction has meant that we are able to rapidly deliver Ennaid’s demand for drug product in a matter of weeks.”
Catalent’s San Diego facility is one of three global centers of excellence in early-phase development focusing on preclinical to clinical Phase 2b formulation, analytical, and manufacturing solutions for orally delivered small molecules, the other two being located in Somerset, New Jersey and Nottingham, U.K. The three strategically-located sites are closely connected to the company’s clinical supply services network, to optimize the transition from finished dose manufacture to clinical packaging and distribution.
ABOUT ENNAID THERAPEUTICS
Ennaid is a specialty pharmaceutical company using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence-based drug discovery platforms to develop broad-spectrum antiviral drugs that treat diseases in the Flaviviridae and Coronaviridae family of viruses, specifically SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The company has identified 112 additional compounds that may treat COVID-19 and other coronaviruses. Since inception, Ennaid has focused on the treatment of mosquito-borne diseases including Zika virus and dengue virus, which have caused pandemics. Their pipeline includes twelve additional indications. These programs were entering preclinical testing and have been placed on hold so that Ennaid can focus on developing a COVID-19 therapeutic.
