Todos Medical (OTCMKTS: TOMDF) today announced excellent Phase 1/2 results that appear to take dying from COVID-19 off the table. In a small clinical trial of 32 patients the company tested Tollovir in hospitalized patients. Although the treated group was small Tollovir performed very well and had zero deaths in the treated cohort versus 5 which represented a 23% mortality rate in that population. At baseline the hospitalized patients were evaluated for a key biomarker of inflammation called C-reactive protein (CRP). Both the treated and observational group had similarly high levels but 50% of the treated group experienced an over 50% reduction in CRP in the 48 – 72 hours after baseline admission versus only 10% in the observational group. A 4 fold reduction in CRP is one of the keys to quieting the cytokine storm and letting patients walk out of the hospital.
Mechanism of Action – Stopping Viral Replication
Tollovid is a 3CL protease inhibitor. The best way to describe how Tollovid works is to put it in simple terms. When the virus infects the cell it deposits its mRNA into the cytoplasm and the cell’s ribosomes which are responsible for making the cellular proteins it needs start stamping out viral proteins instead of cellular proteins to form the building blocks of the budding viruses. The very first protein stamped out is a protease and it looks like a pacman from the video game. Its sole purpose is to cut the long protein chains that the ribosome is going to make next. Proteins are made in a linear fashion but then fold on themselves like an earthworm coils into a ball. Envision the ribosomes making a nail gun cartridge. They would make the nails which represent the viral proteins together with the little piece of plastic. The nail is unusable until it is separated from the plastic. Same concept applies in the cell. Without the protease pacman-like structure cutting the proteins to the right size viral replication would come to a halt. The protease inhibitor gunks up the protease saw. This mechanism stops new viruses from being made which is why it is so critical to get treatment as quickly as possible.