Exvastat receives €3.6m grant to study Covid-19 associated ARDS

An Ireland-based biopharmaceutical company has received a €3.6m grant from the Innovative Medicines Initiative to fund a study towards Covid-19 associated Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).

Exvastat will now put the funding towards its collaboration with the Vrije Universitat, Amsterdam Medical Center, KABS (Canada) and Simbec-Orion to uncover a new use for the drug imatinib for treating Covid-19 associated ARDS.

The trial will investigate how a reformulated version of imatinib can be used to treat Covid-19 patients in intensive care, and who lack any approved therapeutic options. The trial is aiming to enroll 110 Covid-19 patients throughout a four-to-six-month programme.

Imatinib is a commonly prescribed cancer drug that works by blocking the growth of proteins known as tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). The drug has shown promise as a potential treatment for ARDS based on preclinical studies carried out across European and US institutions.

Unlike antiviral approaches, imatinib operates through the inhibition of the host response, reducing the pulmonary oedema that is correlated with mortality in all forms of ARDS, and is therefore anticipated to be a robust mechanism against viral mutations.

“The coronavirus pandemic has focussed attention on ARDS as a very serious condition with a high mortality rate and for which there are currently no approved therapies, even though it causes more fatalities every year than breast or prostate cancer,” said David Cavalla, chief executive officer of Exvastat. “We are using a repurposing strategy backed by strong intellectual property and good preclinical as well as human validation of the effect of the drug to reduce pulmonary oedema; we now intend to reformulate and fast-track clinical development for this serious condition.”

“We would like to congratulate Exvastat and its collaborators on their receipt of this prestigious award which recognises the importance of developing novel treatments for ARDS. We are proud to continue to support the team in their development of this important initiative,” said Dr Robert Tansley, Life Sciences Partner at Cambridge Innovation Capital and Chairman at Exvastat.