CARSON CITY, Nev., March 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioVie Inc. (NASDAQ: BIVI), (“BioVie” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage company developing innovative drug therapies for the treatment of neurological and neurodegenerative disorders and advanced liver disease, today announced that it will host a virtual investor event featuring key opinion leader (KOL) Lindsay McAlpine, MD, BSc (Yale University), who will join company management to discuss the unmet need and current treatment landscape for long COVID on Thursday, April 10, 2025 at 10:00 AM ET. To register, click here.
The event will provide an update on BioVie's ADDRESS-LC trial evaluating bezisterim (NE3107) for the treatment of long COVID. Bezisterim is a novel, oral, blood-brain barrier–permeable, anti-inflammatory, insulin-sensitizing agent that has shown to selectively inhibit inflammation-driven ERK- and NF-κB-stimulated inflammatory mediators, without inhibiting their homeostatic functions. Chronic neuroinflammation, potentially driven by persisting viral spike protein1,2, is one of the main hypotheses that researchers have proposed to explain the persistence of symptoms in long COVID.
A live question and answer session will follow the formal presentations.
About Lindsay McAlpine, MD, BSc Lindsay McAlpine, MD, BSc, is a neuroimmunologist in Division of Neurological Infections and Global Neurology at the Yale University School of Medicine. She founded the NeuroCOVID Clinic at Yale in October 2020 and now directs the clinic. She sees patients with neurologic issues related to Long COVID and patients with multiple sclerosis and autoimmune disorders of the nervous system. She is an investigator in the COVID Mind Study at Yale, and her research interests are related to the pathophysiology of neurologic symptoms after COVID-19 using several modalities, including MRI.
About Long COVID Long COVID is a condition in which symptoms of COVID-19, the acute respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, persist for an extended period of time, generally three months or more. Common symptoms include lingering loss of smell and taste, extreme fatigue, and “brain fog,” though persistent cardiovascular and respiratory problems, muscle weakness, and neurologic issues have also been documented. The Centers for Disease Control recently reported that 6.8% of adults in the United States (more than 17 million individuals) currently or previously have long COVID3 though a recent analysis using real world data estimates the prevalence could be as high as 22%4 . The loss in quality of life and earnings and increased medical costs has an enormous economic impact estimated to be $3.7 trillion5 . To date there are no non-pharmacological or pharmacological therapies proven effective for treatment of long COVID.
About BioVie Inc. BioVie Inc. (NASDAQ: BIVI) is a clinical-stage company developing innovative drug therapies for the treatment of neurological and neurodegenerative disorders (Long COVID, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson’s disease) and advanced liver disease. In neurodegenerative disease, the Company’s drug candidate bezisterim inhibits inflammatory activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase and the transcription factor nuclear factor-kB, and the associated neuroinflammation and insulin resistance but not ERK and NFkB homeostatic functions (e.g., insulin signaling and neuron growth and survival). Both neuroinflammation and insulin resistance are drivers of AD and PD. Persistent systematic inflammation and neuroinflammation are key features in patients with neurological symptoms of Long COVID. In liver disease, the Company’s Orphan drug candidate BIV201 (continuous infusion terlipressin), with FDA Fast Track status, is being evaluated and discussed with guidance received from the FDA regarding the design of Phase 3 clinical testing of BIV201 for the reduction of further decompensation in participants with liver cirrhosis and ascites. The active agent is approved in the U.S. and in about 40 countries for related complications of advanced liver cirrhosis. For more information, visit www.bioviepharma.com.
References 1Rong Z, Mai H, Ebert G, Kapoor S, Puelles VG, Czogalla J, Hu S, Su J, Prtvar D, Singh I, Schädler J, Delbridge C, Steinke H, Frenzel H, Schmidt K, Braun C, Bruch G, Ruf V, Ali M, Sühs KW, Nemati M, Hopfner F, Ulukaya S, Jeridi D, Mistretta D, Caliskan ÖS, Wettengel JM, Cherif F, Kolabas ZI, Molbay M, Horvath I, Zhao S, Krahmer N, Yildirim AÖ, Ussar S, Herms J, Huber TB, Tahirovic S, Schwarzmaier SM, Plesnila N, Höglinger G, Ondruschka B, Bechmann I, Protzer U, Elsner M, Bhatia HS, Hellal F, Ertürk A. Persistence of spike protein at the skull-meninges-brain axis may contribute to the neurological sequelae of COVID-19. Cell Host Microbe. 2024 Dec 11;32(12):2112-2130.e10.
2Frank MG, Nguyen KH, Ball JB, Hopkins S, Kelley T, Baratta MV, Fleshner M, Maier SF. SARS-CoV-2 spike S1 subunit induces neuroinflammatory, microglial and behavioral sickness responses: Evidence of PAMP-like properties. Brain Behav Immun. 2022 Feb;100:267-277.
3Ford ND, Agedew A, Dalton AF, Singleton J, Perrine CG, Saydah S. Notes from the Field: Long COVID Prevalence Among Adults — United States, 2022. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2024;73:135–136. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7306a4.
4Azhir A et al. “Precision Phenotyping for Curating Research Cohorts of Patients with Unexplained Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19” Med DOI: 10.1016/j.medj.2024.10.009, in press
Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements, which may be identified by words such as "expect," "look forward to," "anticipate" "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "estimate," "will," "project" or words of similar meaning. Although BioVie Inc. believes such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained. Actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied by the statements herein due to the Company's ability to successfully raise sufficient capital on reasonable terms or at all, available cash on hand and contractual and statutory limitations that could impair our ability to pay future dividends, our ability to complete our pre-clinical or clinical studies and to obtain approval for our product candidates, our ability to successfully defend potential future litigation, changes in local or national economic conditions as well as various additional risks, many of which are now unknown and generally out of the Company's control, and which are detailed from time to time in reports filed by the Company with the SEC, including quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, reports on Form 8-K and annual reports on Form 10-K. BioVie Inc. does not undertake any duty to update any statements contained herein (including any forward-looking statements), except as required by law.
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