First Patient Enrolled in NIH Phase 3 Trial to Evaluate Potential COVID-19 Hyperimmune Medicine

The CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance, a collaboration of plasma companies supported by organizations outside the plasma industry, confirmed patients are now being enrolled in the Inpatient Treatment with Anti-Coronavirus Immunoglobulin (ITAC) Phase 3 clinical trial sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The trial will evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of an investigational anti-coronavirus hyperimmune intravenous immunoglobulin (H-Ig) medicine for treating hospitalized adults at risk for serious complications of COVID-19 disease. If successful, the Alliance's H-Ig may become one of the earliest treatment options for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

This global multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial will enroll 500 adult patients at up to 58 sites in the United States, Mexico and 16 other countries on five continents (utilizing the NIH's global INSIGHT Network), who have been hospitalized for COVID-19 and have had symptoms for 12 days or fewer without life-threatening organ dysfunction or end-organ failure. Patients will receive remdesivir as standard of care, allowing the safety and efficacy of H-Ig to be evaluated when given along with remdesivir treatment. The investigational H-Ig materials for the trial will be provided by CSL Behring and Takeda on behalf of the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance, as well as by two other companies.

"The rapid progress we've made since we initiated this program just a few months ago to reach this key milestone of enrolling patients in the trial is a powerful testament to the collaboration, determination and innovation taking place across the biomedical community as we work to fight the COVID-19 pandemic," said Julie Kim, President of Plasma-Derived Therapies Business Unit, Takeda and co-leader of the CoVIg-19 Alliance. "This study will help us understand how CoVIg-19 could potentially become an important therapeutic option. To support our efforts, we encourage all those people who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate their plasma, which contains vital antibodies that have fought off the disease and could help others do the same."

"When we created the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance in April, the goal was to partner to accelerate our timelines so that we could develop and deliver a reliable and sustainable treatment option for people suffering the impact of COVID-19 and to support countries around the world in their efforts to fight the current pandemic," said Bill Mezzanotte, MD, MPH, Executive Vice President, Head of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer, CSL Behring and co-leader of the CoVIg-19 Alliance. "Thanks to the unprecedented collaboration from the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance members, commitment from those who have recovered from the virus and generously chosen to donate their plasma, as well as the strong support from the NIH, we are hopeful that data from the clinical trial will be available before the end of the year. If the trial proves successful, this therapy could bring new hope to those suffering serious health consequences from COVID-19."