Aikido Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: AIKI) is not necessarily a household name, but on Tuesday its shares made waves. The stock more than doubled on news that the company had secured a worldwide license agreement regarding a coronavirus treatment.
Specifically, the company announced that it secured an exclusive worldwide license for a broad spectrum antiviral drug platform. The licensed technology is a broadly acting pan-viral inhibitory compound with efficacy against multiple viral pathogens.
The key point here is that the technology works to inhibit replication of multiple viruses, including influenza viruses, SARS-COV (a coronavirus), MERS-COV, ebolaviruses and Marburg virus.
Some quick background: Aikido has a portfolio of small molecule anti-cancer therapeutics. The pipeline includes therapies for pancreatic cancer, acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Anthony Hayes, CEO of Aikido commented:
This license is a follow up to our March 6, 2020 press release ‘Treatment for Coronavirus Optioned by Spherix.’ We continue to vet the technology we optioned, but this antiviral drug platform technology we’ve licensed is broader with more potential applicability, while also coming from the same lead inventors and institution. We are always seeking to acquire the best technology to drive shareholder value. We will continue to investigate the technology covered by our option and we will be providing additional information about this antiviral platform shortly. Working to develop technology to help with the current pandemic, as well as other possible viruses that may impact us in the future, is our goal for this technology.
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Aikido Pharma stock traded up about 185% to $1.91 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $0.48 to $2.74.
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