DURHAM – Durham-based EmitBio, which is seeking FDA authorization for use of its light technology to combat COVIDA-19, says its proprietary technology can inactivate variants of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Among them: The highly infectious U.K. and South African variants.
EmitBio is an operating subsidiary of KNOW Bio that focuses on delivery of light to stimulate, heal, and protect the human body.
“Since last fall we’ve seen several mutations of SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19—some of which may be easier to transmit than COVID-19 and have a higher risk of death,” said Neal Hunter, executive chairman of EmitBio, in a statement Wednesday. “We have clearly demonstrated that EmitBio treatment technology is mutation resistant and resilient.”
The company recently reported results from a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial with the investigational treatment device, which showed a 99.9 percent reduction in viral load in adults with COVID-19.
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The clinical trial results—along with the results from a Phase I safety study in healthy volunteers—have been submitted as part of a comprehensive package to the FDA requesting Emergency Use Authorization.
EmitBio reported that precise wavelengths of light achieved a greater than 99.9 percent reduction in viral load of the United Kingdom (UK) variant of SARS-CoV-2 (known as 20I/501Y.V1, VOC 202012/01, or B.1.1.7) and the South Africa variant (known as 20H/501Y.V2 or B.1.351) that emerged independently of B.1.1.7, at doses of energy that have previously proven safe to human tissue, in a controlled laboratory environment.
These findings confirm the company’s belief, and prior research, that its proprietary light technology would kill SARS-CoV-2 variants based on its research demonstrating the ability to inactivate coronaviruses with wide genetic variation ranging from SARS-CoV-2 to MERS-CoV.
“We have repeatedly shown that our light technology is effective at inactivating viral particles before infecting the cell, much like antibodies inactivate viruses and prevent them from entering cells,” said Dr. Adam Cockrell, Director of Virology Research at EmitBio.
EmitBio’s parent company, KNOW Bio, was created in 2015 as a spinoff of drug company Novan, which uses a nitric oxide science and technology platform to develop therapies for unmet medical needs. KNOW Bio said in September 2020 that it had demonstrated the “first definitive evidence” that nitric oxide can fight the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
KNOW Bio raised $2.6 million from 49 investors in 2017 and added another $4.68 million in 2018, and also landed a $30 million in investment capital from Reedy Creek Investments, the investment arm of SAS Institute co-founder Jim Goodnight.
