Together with the COVID R&D Alliance partners AbbVie, Inc. and Amgen Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has enrolled the first patients in the I-SPY COVID Trial (Investigation of Serial Studies to Predict Your COVID Therapeutic Response with Biomarker Integration and Adaptive Learning) clinical trial. The trial will evaluate the efficacy of a chemokine dual-receptor antagonist, a PDE4 inhibitor, and Firazyr, a bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist used for the treatment of HAE.

The trial utilizes Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative’s adaptive platform trial design, which is intended to increase trial efficiency by minimizing the number of participants and time required to evaluate potential treatments.

“Collaborative research efforts leveraging adaptive platform trials enable faster and more complete learning about what works for patients, and they are especially critical for addressing urgent public health threats like COVID-19,” says Dr. Mark McClellan, Director of the Robert J. Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University and former commissioner of the U.S. FDA and administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: “Platform trials bring down the cost and increase the ease of executing well-powered, high quality studies, especially when multiple, potential therapies need to be evaluated quickly. The I-SPY COVID Trial is expanding a timely and effective platform trial strategy to evaluate promising treatments while maintaining an appropriate level of safety and statistical rigor necessary for regulatory evaluation.”

The study is a collaboration between members of the COVID R&D Alliance, Quantum Leap, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). AbbVie, Amgen, and Takeda are members of the COVID R&D Alliance (COVID R&D), a group of more than 20 of the world’s leading biopharmaceutical and life science companies working to speed the development of potential therapies, novel antibodies, and anti-viral therapies for COVID-19 and its related symptoms.

“Sick patients in hospitals cannot wait; options are urgently needed. I’m proud to partner with AbbVie and Amgen and the dozens of other companies who have joined the COVID R&D Alliance, to initiate critical platform trials like I-SPY COVID”, says Andy Plump, President of R&D at Takeda Pharmaceuticals and co-founder of the COVID R&D Alliance. “The world learned of COVID-19 only six months ago, and the speed at which the scientific community has joined forces to address the critically high unmet need is inspiring. Together, experts across our companies and industry can accelerate trials with promising, well-understood therapies that upon investigation, may show efficacy in this devastating disease.”

The therapies under investigation were selected based on their potential to impact the immune system response of COVID-19 patients who need respiratory support. Approximately 10-15 percent of patients afflicted by COVID-19 develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and up to 60 percent of those patients admitted to an ICU require ventilation for an average of two weeks. It is estimated that half of those patients will not survive. Based on the respective mechanisms of action, Firazyr may ameliorate bradykinin-driven pulmonary edema.
(Source: Takeda)