RedHill Biopharma announced the U.S. Phase 2 study with opaganib (Yeliva®, ABC294640) in patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 pneumonia has passed its second pre-scheduled safety review by the independent Safety Monitoring Committee (SMC) with a unanimous recommendation to continue the study without change. The SMC’s recommendation is based on an unblinded analysis of safety data from the first 24 patients treated in the study for at least seven days. The study is 75% enrolled.
The U.S. Phase 2 study with opaganib (NCT04414618), ongoing in eight clinical trial sites, is planned to complete enrollment this month, with data expected to follow before the end of this year. The Phase 2 study is not powered for efficacy and is focused on safety evaluation and identifying a signal of efficacy.
In parallel, the global Phase 2/3 study with opaganib in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia (NCT04467840) is rapidly enrolling across 15 study sites and is on track to enroll up to 270 patients. This study is focused on, and powered for, efficacy evaluation. The study has been approved in the UK, Italy, Russia, Mexico, Brazil and Israel, with further expansion ongoing.
“Passing this second pre-scheduled independent safety review, involving data from 60% of the patients in the study, is an important milestone in the ongoing development of opaganib as a potential therapy for patients with severe COVID-19,” said Mark L. Levitt, M.D., Ph.D., Medical Director at RedHill. “We are rapidly building more data and experience with opaganib, with the safety database from opaganib studies now numbering close to 200 patients. This further supports the ongoing global Phase 2/3 study which is focused on delivering efficacy and is on track to enroll up to 270 patients by the end of the year.”
RedHill is in discussions with U.S. government agencies around potential funding to support the rapid advancement of opaganib toward potential emergency use approval and manufacturing scale-up.
Opaganib, a new chemical entity, is a proprietary, first-in-class, orally-administered, sphingosine kinase-2 (SK2) selective inhibitor with demonstrated dual anti-inflammatory and antiviral activity that targets a host cell component, potentially minimizing the likelihood of viral resistance. Opaganib has also shown anticancer activity and has the potential to target multiple oncology, viral, inflammatory and gastrointestinal indications.
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Opaganib received Orphan Drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of cholangiocarcinoma and is being evaluated in a Phase 2a study in advanced cholangiocarcinoma and in a Phase 2 study in prostate cancer. Opaganib is also being evaluated in a global Phase 2/3 study and a U.S. Phase 2 study for the treatment of severe COVID-19.
Preclinical data have demonstrated both anti-inflammatory and antiviral activities of opaganib, with the potential to reduce inflammatory lung disorders, such as pneumonia, and mitigate pulmonary fibrotic damage. Opaganib demonstrated potent antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, completely inhibiting viral replication in an in vitro model of human lung bronchial tissue. Additionally, preclinical in vivo studies have demonstrated that opaganib decreased fatality rates from influenza virus infection and ameliorated Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced lung injury by reducing the levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids.
Opaganib was originally developed by U.S.-based Apogee Biotechnology Corp. and completed multiple successful preclinical studies in oncology, inflammation, GI, and radioprotection models, as well as a Phase 1 clinical study in cancer patients with advanced solid tumors and an additional Phase 1 study in multiple myeloma.
Under a compassionate use program, patients with COVID-19 (as classified by the WHO ordinal scale) were treated with opaganib in a leading hospital in Israel. Data from the treatment of these first patients with severe COVID-19 with opaganib have been published. Analysis of treatment outcomes suggested substantial benefit to patients treated with opaganib under compassionate use in both clinical outcomes and inflammatory markers as compared to a retrospective matched case-control group from the same hospital. All patients in the opaganib-treated group were discharged from hospital on room air without requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation, whereas 33% of the matched case-control group required intubation and mechanical ventilation. Median time to weaning from high-flow nasal cannula was reduced to 10 days in the opaganib-treated group, as compared to 15 days in the matched case-control group.
The development of opaganib has been supported by grants and contracts from U.S. federal and state government agencies awarded to Apogee Biotechnology Corp., including from the NCI, BARDA, the U.S. Department of Defense and the FDA Office of Orphan Products Development.