Noxopharm Limited announced that the latest formal review by the NOXCOVID-1 Safety Steering Committee has cleared it to advance to the fifth and final dosage cohort. The Committee is independent of the company, with investigators unanimously voting to move to the 1800 mg dose after they reviewed the safety profile of Veyonda in 12 patients from Cohorts 3 and 4 (involving 800 and 1200 mg Veyonda respectively). The company regards this as a highly encouraging outcome given the advanced nature of COVID-19 disease in these study patients, in particular suffering serious lung dysfunction. The company will be reporting formally on efficacy in due course, with the overall objective being to use Veyonda to block the cytokine release syndrome (so-called `cytokine storm') that leads to patients requiring intensive care, and is a primary cause of the multi-organ damage responsible for much of the long-term disability and death in COVID-19 patients. The issues of drug safety and ease of administration look set to become major issues as the pandemic evolves. The emerging situations in the UK and parts of the U.S. are causing alarm, with hospitals reportedly being overwhelmed to the point of having insufficient ICU beds and staff to meet demand. The need for effective triage treatments able to be administered under minimal medical supervision in both developed and developing countries where lack of ICU facilities is even more concerning, looks set to grow exponentially. The Company sees Veyonda as having the properties to meet this need.