New Israeli COVID-19 treatment seemingly successful with first two patients
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The first two patients who were treated with a new Israeli treatment for the novel COVID-19 after testing positive have shown significant improvement, with one of them even being removed from the intensive care unit (ICU) within days of treatment.
Israeli biopharmaceutical RedHill Biopharma Ltd. administered their experimental drug, Opaganib, in Israel for the first time last week. The first two patients treated, according to the company, have demonstrated significant improvement through clinical trial within mere days of treatment.
The two patients initially suffered from “moderate to severe acute respiratory symptoms related to SARS-CoV-2 infection, required supplemental oxygenation and were hypoxic despite being treated with maximum flow of oxygen with cannulas.”
After the treatment, they both needed less supplemental oxygen as well as C-reactive protein, the latter of which is an “inflammatory biomarker correlated with lung lesions which could reflect disease severity.”
One of the two patients was in the ICU and even considered for intubation, but within days of the experimental drug being administered, they were released.
The patients received the opanagib treatment while receiving the standard care for coronavirus, which includes hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as background therapy.
Opanagib is a “new chemical entity,” according to RedHill, which is administered orally and performs “anticancer, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory activities.”
The company received the green light from the Italian National Institute for Infectious Diseases last week to administer the drug in the aggressively virus-ridden country. Approximately 160 patients will be treated in “three major hospitals in northern Italy under an expanded access program.”
