Halodine Engages Emery Pharma for Next Generation Development of Oral and Nasal Antiseptics Active Against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)

BETHESDA, Md. and ALAMEDA, Calif., July 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Halodine LLC announces collaboration with Emery Pharma, a boutique contract research and development company, to advance the development of Halodine's proprietary antiseptic platform for COVID-19.  This collaboration brings together Emery Pharma's years of experience in antimicrobial and antiviral screening and drug development with Halodine's expertise in topical antiviral drug development. The partnership will advance potential interventions for COVID-19 at a crucial moment in this pandemic.

"The strength of Halodine's unit-dose platform has already been proven against SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. Our partnership with Emery Pharma will enable us to evaluate efficacy against important hospital-acquired infections using Emery Pharma's collection of multi-drug resistant pathogens," says Dr. Jesse Pelletier, lead investigator of the research program and Halodine SVP for Medical Affairs. Dr. S. Kojo Amoakohene, Halodine co-founder and VP of Medical Affairs adds, "We initially developed the Halodine antiseptic family to help protect health-care workers and patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. We see an even greater potential benefit in pre-procedural oral and nasal antisepsis, and the studies with Emery Pharma will provide important data about our efficacy against clinically important pathogens."

"We plan to test these products against our collection of drug resistant pathogens, often referred to by the pneumonic ESKAPE Pathogens," says Dr. Ron Najafi, Ph.D., CEO of Emery Pharma. "We also plan to conduct assays against a range of important biofilm-forming agents and oral pathogens to support the expanded use of Halodine's products in sinus disease, hospital-associated infection, and oral decontamination. We will also evaluate Halodine's product efficacy against our beta-coronavirus (OC-43), which is closely related to SARS-CoV-2."

Emery Pharma will leverage their microbiology, virology, and bioanalytical experience to aid in developing this novel product, as well as other drugs to help treat COVID-19. "Our beta coronavirus assay is robust and ready to be deployed for screening thousands of compounds.  We're excited to support Halodine and to help to put this important class of compounds on the market for development," says Dr. Najafi.

About Halodine

Halodine LLC is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company founded by clinicians, chemists and former FDA regulators with a focus on the rapid development of resistance-free antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial topical drugs.

About Emery Pharma

Emery Pharma is a full-service contract research and development laboratory, specializing in analytical chemistry, microbiology, and cell biology services, utilizing state-of-the-art equipment such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR), LC-MS/MS, HPLC, UPLC, and much more.  The facility is located in Alameda, CA, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Emery Pharma's mission is to help our clients "Save Lives and Save the Environment."

Emery Pharma is FDA registered and inspected, DEA licensed, and GLP/cGMP compliant. The team at Emery Pharma is skilled in Method Development and Validation, Characterization and Isolation of impurities, Stability Studies, and Release Testing. The company has proprietary and robust microbiological assays aimed to support projects related to novel antimicrobial, anti-biofilm, and antibiotic development. Emery Pharma also develops methods and procedures in support of patent litigation, intellectual property, drug recalls, and product liability cases. In March 2020, Emery Pharma engaged in development of a betacoronavirus assay, a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2 for antiviral efficacy testing.

SOURCE Emery Pharma