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RedHill’s Oral Broad-Acting Antivirals, Opaganib and RHB-107, Inhibit Dominant Omicron Sub-Variant BA.5

Written by Communications and Marketing

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The study was done in collaboration with renowned virologist, Dr. Colleen B. Jonsson, Harriet Van Vleet Professor of Virology, Director of the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (RBL), and Director of the Institute for the Study of Host-Pathogen Systems at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center (UTHSC), who remarked: “We tested RHB-107 and opaganib using a primary human nasal epithelial cell culture model of Omicron BA.5, which was specifically selected due to the high level of SARS-CoV-2 entry factor expression in these cells. The results of our work show that both RHB-107 and opaganib inhibit Omicron sub-variant BA.5 viral replication, which is indicative of antiviral activity. Of further interest is the hypothesis that, compared to Delta, Omicron replication is increased as compared to primary epithelial lung cell cultures – hinting at a different possible mechanism of cell entry via membrane fusion and the endocytic pathway. Although we may be potentially dealing with different methods of viral cell entry, these new data suggest that it does not prevent either RHB-107 or opaganib from exerting their viral inhibition capabilities.”

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