Moleculin Biotech, Inc., (Nasdaq: MBRX) ("Moleculin" or the "Company"), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company with a broad portfolio of drug candidates, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with ImQuest Biosciences to expand in vitro and in vivo testing of WP1122, Moleculin's lead drug candidate for the treatment of COVID-19.

View press release online: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/moleculin-announces-agreement-with-imquest-biosciences-to-expand-coronavirus-testing-301043291.html

Tackling COVID-19 with WP1122: https://www.moleculin.com/covid-19/

The announcement follows on the heels of the discovery by researchers at the Goethe University in Frankfurt (https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-17218/v1) that 2 deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG, and the active compound in WP1122) inhibited SARS-CoV–2 replication in susceptible cell lines.

ImQuest BioSciences is a preclinical CRO that provides expert services to evaluate the potential of new and novel pharmaceutical products for the treatment and prevention of viruses, bacteria, cancer and inflammatory diseases. ImQuest has developed a robust platform to identify and support the development of therapeutic products to inhibit and prevent coronavirus infection. These preclinical research services are part of the ImQuestSUCCESS Platform and include compound screening to define compound efficacy and drug target validation to define the mechanism of action and toxicity of pharmaceutical products, as well as evaluation of the potential of products to induce resistance and the impact of combination antiviral therapy.

"While our collaborations with worldclass academic institutions here and in Europe are very beneficial, we also consider commercial testing facilities to be an important part of our strategic approach to development. We are determined to generate critical data over the next 4 to 8 weeks that we hope will support an IND (Investigational New Drug) submission in the US and a CTA (Clinical Trial Authorization) request in Europe. We believe this agreement with ImQuest will help us hit those timelines."