Ampio completes 55% patient enrolment in Covid-19 trial

Biopharmaceutical firm Ampio Pharmaceuticals has announced the enrolment of 55% of the participants in its ongoing US Phase I clinical trial of inhalation treatment Ampion (AP-014) for patients with respiratory distress due to Covid-19 infection.

The company noted that inhaled Ampion particularly targets inflammation in the lung.

Ampio Pharmaceuticals CEO Mike Macaluso said: “We’ve received amazing feedback from healthcare providers about the improvement seen in patients receiving inhaled Ampion.

“We continue to remain very optimistic at the early, anecdotal evidence regarding the clinical effectiveness of inhaled Ampion in Covid-19 patients, and eagerly await the full results of this trial.”

No drug-related serious adverse events (SAE) of inhaled Ampion were observed in the study so far.

Last September, Ampio Pharmaceuticals completed enrolment for its Phase I clinical trial of Ampion intravenous treatment for Covid-19 patients who need supplemental oxygen.

In a separate development, Johnson & Johnson published interim analysis data from a Phase I/IIa trial of its single-dose investigational Covid-19 vaccine candidate (JNJ-78436735).

The data showed that the vaccine candidate provided an immune response that lasted for at least 71 days in adults aged 18 to 55.

A recombinant, replication-incompetent adenovirus serotype 26 (Ad26) vector, the vaccine candidate encodes a full-length and stabilised SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

The vaccine candidate was also observed to be generally well-tolerated across all study subjects.

According to the interim data, on receiving a single dose, neutralising antibodies against Covid-19 were identified in over 90% of subjects at day 29 and in all participants aged 18 to 55 years at day 57.

Separately, scientists at Rush University Medical Center developed a novel potential therapy for Covid-19 that was found to be effective in preventing the disease symptoms in mice.

Positive results were observed in a study of mouse models with Covid-19 on nasal treatment with the hexapeptide, a peptide with six amino acids, that prevents the virus from binding with the ACE2 enzyme.