The application will evaluate the use of one of Arca Biopharma’s drugs as a treatment for patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Westminster-based biotech company Arca Biopharma has submitted an Investigational New Drug application for COVID-19.

The application was filed under the Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program. The application will evaluate the use of one of Arca Biopharma’s drugs, AB201, as a treatment for patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

The 13-employee Arca Biopharma typically focuses on genetically targeted therapies for cardiovascular diseases. AB201 is believed to be effective with RNA viruses, which includes COVID-19 but also SARS and Ebola. At the end of August, Arca Biopharma told Denver Business Journal that this Investigational New Drug application would be a critical step in development.

“We have a compound with a mechanism that could work directly against a disease that comes in the form of a virus and we’re in a pandemic,” Derek Cole, head of investor relations for the company, said at the time. “We have the opportunity to help with that response. We’ve seen how quickly the biopharma industry has responded in a collaborative way to move things along quickly and to help with the tragic situation we’re all in. We take it as a responsibility to move forward and see if our drug does help.”

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