Just posted by geric on SH. 4 days old. I scanned it briefly but looks interesting. Not sure if posted previously but deals with Covid inflammation and a national trial.
Toinv
geric
Metablok
Calgary drug to treat COVID-19 organ inflammation joins national trial | Calgary Herald
A Calgary-made drug designed to reduce organ inflammation in COVID-19 patients is entering a national human trial, with a study into its effectiveness set to begin at 65 hospitals across Canada.
The novel drug, known as Metablok, is joining the Canadian Treatments for COVID-19 trial, which aims to identify optimal treatments for patients hospitalized with the novel coronavirus. The trial will aim to confirm the safety and efficacy of Metablok in treating acute lung inflammation in these patients.
The drug candidate from Arch Biopartners, which has the generic name LSALT peptide, was discovered by University of Calgary scientists about five years ago. It was originally intended to treat sepsis patients before emerging as a possible therapy for COVID-19 patients at the onset of the pandemic.
Being part of the national trial means data will soon be available that can determine whether Metablok is a viable treatment for COVID-19, according to Dr. Dan Muruve, the company’s chief science officer.
“Our preliminary data is quite good, and that’s very validating from a therapeutic standpoint and moving drugs forward through the clinical development pipeline,” Muruve said. “There was a good reduction in the amount of time people required ventilation, which is the biggest problem with COVID, how it clogs up the ICUs.”
A Phase II human trial of Metablok involving 60 patients took place earlier this year in six hospitals across Canada, the United States and Turkey. Though a peer review of the data is still pending, preliminary results of that trial suggest the drug is effective in reducing the amount of time in which COVID-19 patients required ventilation. In the double-blind study, after adjusting for factors including age and severity of lung disease, those who were given Metablok needed ventilation for an average of 6.7 days fewer than those who took a placebo.
The newly announced trial is scheduled to include 320 patients and aims to detect a statistically significant improvement in patient outcomes. The Canadian Treatments for COVID-19 trial is part of a global collaboration led by the World Health Organization known as the Solidarity Trial.
It’s been a quicker process than usual to get Metablok to this point, said Muruve, a timeline that’s been condensed due to a research focus on identifying treatments that can reduce mortality from COVID-19.
“There’s a good chance that by 2022 we’ll know for sure how effective our drug is,” he said. “We saw it with the vaccines, and there’s a number of other drugs that have been accelerated because of the pandemic, and this is just another example. We feel great about it, because instead of spending five to 10 years like most drugs do to get to drug approval, you’re doing it in two years.”
The drug research is funded in part by the federal government’s COVID-19 Therapeutics Task Force, which in December 2020 contributed $6.7 million to the development and clinical testing of Metablok.
In a news release, federal Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Ottawa views the novel drug as part of an investment in Canada’s biomanufacturing industry.
“Today’s announcement highlights how Canadian innovation can contribute to the global race to find treatments for COVID-19 and will help build Canada’s capacity to address future health emergencies,” Champagne said.