biology

Relief Therapeutics

Relief Therapeutics is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Relief Therapeutics rather than just read about it. In short: Relief Therapeutics is a Swiss biopharmaceutical company based in Geneva. The company focuses on developing drugs for serious diseases with few or no existing treatment options.

Key takeaways

Relief Therapeutics belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Relief Therapeutics to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Relief Therapeutics from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Relief Therapeutics is a Swiss biopharmaceutical company based in Geneva. The company focuses on developing drugs for serious diseases with few or no existing treatment options. Its lead compound, RLF-100, is a synthetic form of a natural peptide that protects the lung. The company was incorporated as Relief Therapeutics Holdings AG (RFLB.S) and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange in 2016.

History Relief Therapeutics was founded in 2013 by Gael Hédou with the aim of developing new treatments for diseases with high unmet needs. The company today considers itself the successor to Mondobiotech, which was founded in 2000 by Fabio Cavalli and Dorian Bevec. Mondobiotech began research into Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), a naturally occurring substance in humans that was first identified in the 1970s. They were granted US and European patents for a synthetic version of VIP known as aviptadil in 2006. On June 23, 2013, Mondobiotech merged with Italian pharmaceutical company Pierrel Research International to form a new Contract research organization known as Therametrics. On July 14, 2016, Therametrics merged with Relief Therapeutics to form Relief Therapeutics Holdings AG, which inherited all patents related to aviptadil.

COVID-19 research

Aviptadil In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists at Relief conducted initial studies into the efficacy of RLF-100 in treating severe COVID-19 patients. In June 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted fast-track designation to RLF-100 for treatment of respiratory distress in COVID-19. In September 2020, Relief partnered with US-Israeli firm NRX Pharmaceuticals (formerly NeuroRx Inc) for the co-development of the drug and the co-ordination of US trials. In April 2021, a reformulated version of aviptadil, known as Zyesami, was included in a National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsored Phase 3 trial with the aim of testing aviptadil against remdesivir. In May 2021, NRX submitted a request for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to the US FDA for aviptadil's use in patients in intensive care. On 7 October 2021 Relief Therapeutics filed a lawsuit against NRX Pharmaceuticals and its CEO Dr. Jonathan Javitt in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, citing multiple alleged breaches of the collaboration agreement signed by the two companies for the co-development of aviptadil. On 4 November 2021 the FDA declined EUA for the drug, but committed to working with NRX to further develop it. On 29 November 2021, NRX announced that data analysis from the NIH-sponsored Phase 3 trial showed a fourfold increase in survival at 60 days for patients administered with Zyesami (Aviptadil) vs those who received placebo.

Sentinox On 27 October 2021, Applied Pharma Research (APR), a wholly owned subsidiary of Relief, announced positive interim data from its clinical trial of Sentinox, a nasal spray aimed at reducing the viral load of patients with COVID-19, in-turn reducing the transmissibility of the virus.

Other research In October 2021, Relief announced that its collaboration partner, Texas-based Acer Therapeutics, had successfully filed for a New Drug Application with US FDA for their drug ACER-001, for the treatment of Urea Cycle Disorders (UCDs) and Maple syrup urine disease. In September 2021, APR launched a chewable tablet for the treatment of Phenylketonuria, called PKU GOLIKE KRUNCH, in Germany and Italy. APR are also developing Nexodyn, a drug which aids in the management of hard-to-heal ulcers requiring long periods of treatment. Relief is actively developing RLF-100 for non-COVID-19 related acute and chronic lung diseases, such as Pulmonary sarcoidosis.

Acquisitions In July 2016, Relief acquired FirstString Research, a clinical-stage biotech firm based in Charleston, South Carolina, US. In January 2021, Relief acquired German-based firm AdVita in a €25 million agreement to further their research into inhaled treatments for Acute respiratory distress syndrome. In May 2021, Relief acquired Swiss biotech firm Applied Pharma Research (APR), including its existing portfolio and all pipeline products, for CHF 72 million ($79 million).

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Relief Therapeutics

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Relief Therapeutics claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Relief Therapeutics before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Relief Therapeutics ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Relief Therapeutics

In research: Relief Therapeutics appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Relief Therapeutics in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Relief Therapeutics is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2016 initial public offerings, Biotechnology companies established in 2013, Biotechnology companies of Switzerland, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Relief Therapeutics outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Relief Therapeutics in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Relief Therapeutics means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Relief Therapeutics out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Relief Therapeutics in simple terms?

Relief Therapeutics is a Swiss biopharmaceutical company based in Geneva. The company focuses on developing drugs for serious diseases with few or no existing treatment options.

Why does Relief Therapeutics matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Relief Therapeutics?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Relief Therapeutics.