Relief Therapeutics' chairman said he was optimistic its RLF-100 (aviptadil) drug will win approval for treating COVID-19 patients in a matter of months.
The Swiss group owns the rights to the drug in the United States and Europe.
Its US partner NeuroRx is running multicentre clinical trials in patients who are severely ill because of the consequences of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus.
"The active pharmaceutical ingredient of aviptadil has been used for a lot of years in different indications. From a safety standpoint we are quite optimistic," Raghuram Selvaraju told Swiss newspaper The Market in an interview posted late on Friday.
"From an efficacy standpoint we need more data. I would say the probability at the moment stands at 60 to 70 percent that we will get the drug approved," he added.
Selvaraju said trial results could emerge within a "few more months".
"If we get meaningful data, I would expect that the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) would act in an expedient and collaborative manner. I do not anticipate that we would need ten to 12 months for approval," he added.
Relief Therapeutics says aviptadil, a synthetic vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, is the first COVID-19 therapeutic to block replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in human lung cells.
Anticipation of progress has driven shares in the Geneva-based company sharply higher this year. They closed on Friday at 0.58 Swiss francs after starting the year at 0.0010 francs.
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