Advancing our Treatment for COVID-19
Plasma gelsolin, a naturally occurring protein in our body’s innate immune system promises to be a viable treatment for COVID-19.
“We are working hard to make plasma gelsolin therapy part of the solution for COVID-19 and other infections. While vaccines and antivirals hope to address the high transmission of COVID-19, it is the body’s overexuberant immune response which causes the severe lung damage and fatalities. Plasma gelsolin addresses the excess inflammation without suppressing the ability to fight infection.” – Susan L. Levinson, PhD, CEO
Gelsolin, "The Master Regulator of Inflammation", Disrupts the Course of Infectious & Inflammatory Diseases
The inflammatory response is essential to the healing process and to fight infection. The damage inflicted by COVID-19 is primarily mediated through an overly exuberant host response to the virus, not directly by the virus itself. This overblown reaction consists of excessive and prolonged inflammation leading to a harmful cytokine storm.
Gelsolin’s unique role is to modulate this necessary inflammatory response so that what was intended to be a mechanism of healing does not become an instrument of long term morbidity or death. In extreme circumstances like those present in COVID-19, gelsolin can become dangerously depleted, leaving the body exposed to the ravages of an unrestrained immune response.
Our approach is simply to supplement the protein which we have produced with a recombinant manufacturing process. This approach has been successful in over 20 animal models, including direct evidence of protection of the lungs. We recently completed a safety study in hospitalized pneumonia patients. We are now testing this in severely ill COVID-19 patients.
This human protein enhances the body’s ability to manage excess inflammation without suppressing immune function, unlike currently approved anti-inflammatory treatments.
The white paper, Plasma Gelsolin to Protect Tissue/Organs in Severe Coronavirus Infection without Compromising Pathogen Response, outlines how rhu-pGSN supplementation would work in COVID-19.
Update on our Progress (June 2021):
Phase 2 Clinical Trial Recruitment has been Completed
We have enrolled our last patient in the study which is being conducted at three sites – Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Reus, and Hospital Universitari de Tarragona Joan XXIII in Spain, and Spitalul Clinic de Boli Infecţioase şi Pneumoftiziologie in Timişoara, Romania.
Dr. Antonio Castro, principal investigator and Dr. Sandra Parra, co-principal investigator at Sant Joan University Hospital in Reus, and their colleagues of the Catalan research group of the Internal Medicine service shared,
“We were very enthused to conduct this study, as we had previously studied plasma gelsolin in patients with lupus with very interesting findings. We look forward to the results of this study when follow up is completed.”
The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, proof-of-concept trial of rhu-pGSN added to standard of care will assess the efficacy (survival without organ failure on Day 14) of three doses of rhu-pGSN administered intravenously to hospitalized COVID-19 subjects with a severity score of 4, 5 or 6 on the World Health Organization (WHO) 9-point severity scale. It will also measure the safety and tolerability of treatment along with secondary outcomes.
According to Susan Levinson, PhD, CEO of BioAegis,
“We are excited to move forward with this study to address the most severe outcomes of COVID-19. Two recent independent publications confirm that COVID 19 patients with lower gelsolin levels are more likely to exhibit organ damage and have higher WHO scores. Now, we have the opportunity to prevent these poor outcomes in patients in the EU.”
Details of the study can be found at:https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04358406
Best Covid-19 Response
In February, BioAegis Therapeutics, Inc. was selected as the winner of the “Best Covid 19 Response”.
The Clinical Trials Arena Excellence Awards celebrates the greatest achievements and innovations in clinical trials. The Awards provide a platform to recognize the people and companies that are driving change.
Phase 3 Clinical Trial Planning is Underway
Planning for our global phase 3 clinical study is underway. Manufacturing of additional clinical supplies is in progress.
We are continuously monitoring the regulatory environment and have been pursuing any fast-tracking made available, while expediting activities down the standard path.