RevImmune Advances New COVID-19 Immunotherapy

RevImmune announced its "ILIAD-7" international randomized controlled Phase 2 trial in patients critically ill with COVID-19, is now enrolling patients at five sites in the U.S. The trial has already been under way for some time in the U.K. and France and is about to start in Brazil.

This ILIAD-7 trial has started enrolling patients at Barnes Jewish Hospital-Missouri Baptist Medical Center and Washington University in St. Louis, and 4 additional sites: the Cleveland Clinic, Stony Brook University Hospital, the University of Florida Medical Center, and Rutgers New Brunswick Medical Center. Additional sites are in process.

"Data over the past few months from our laboratory and a growing body of literature from others regarding COVID-19 has demonstrated that patients have a sustained and severe loss of lymphocytes with a profound immune suppression rather than exclusively a cytokine storm. Patients who succumb to COVID-19 have the most severe loss of lymphocytes and have a high incidence of developing secondary hospital-acquired infections,” Dr. Kenneth Remy, physician-scientist at Washington University in St. Louis said.

To date, CYT107 has been administered in clinical trials to over 500 patients with diverse infectious diseases, sepsis and cancers, with an excellent safety profile and encouraging results. The primary mechanism of action of CYT107 works to restore lymphocyte function and increase lymphocyte proliferation of lymphocytes thereby aiding in the elimination of invading pathogens.

The CYT107 treatment being tested in the current phase 2 randomized controlled trial is designed to improve survival in critically ill patients with hypoxemia and severe lymphopenia (low lymphocyte counts). The study is currently enrolling at 5 sites in the U.S., and is expected to continue through December.