Beech Tree Labs, Inc., has announced that the FDA has approved its IND for a 180 patient Phase 1/2a clinical evaluation of BTL-TML001, a novel therapeutic agent for treating acute influenza virus infections.
In the US outbreaks of seasonal flu are estimated to incur annual costs of more than $12bn, with a mortality rate of over 36,000 people. In the case of a pandemic, estimated annual costs would range from $71bn to $167bn for attack rates of 15%-35% of the population.
Beech Tree Labs is a privately held biopharmaceutical company specialising in discovery and early-stage development. It is a leader in resonant molecular signalling technology and holds a number of patents on other potential therapeutics.