Gilead abandons oral version of COVID drug remdesivir with Matinas Biopharma
Justin Sullivan         

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) will end a partnership with Matinas Biopharma (NYSE:MTNB) that aimed to develop an oral version of the COVID-19 therapy remdesivir.
Gilead instead has decided to work on its own oral nucleoside prodrug of remdesivir.
Starting at the end of 2020, Matinas (MTNB) began collaborating with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases on its lipid nanocrystal ("LNC") platform to transform remdesivir, which is given via infusion, into a pill.
Matinas (MTNB) also has a partnership with BioNTech (BNTX) that is expected to yield initial in vivo data in the first half of the year.