Vancouver-based company CytoDyn Inc. shared positive test results on Friday from seven coronavirus patients who were treated with the company’s leronlimab drug at a leading medical center in the New York City area.
Editor’s Note: GV Wire is contacting companies around the world working on medical advancements to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This is our latest report about efforts to defeat the coronavirus.
Seven Patients With Severe COVID-19 Demonstrate Promise
In a Friday press release sent to GV Wire, the company says leronlimab used in seven patients with severe COVID-19 demonstrated promise. Two patients in ICU were removed and taken off breathing tubes with reduced pulmonary inflammation.
According to the release from CytoDyn, leronlimab is believed to provide “therapeutic benefit by enhancing the immune response while mitigating the ‘cytokine storm’ that leads to morbidity and mortality in these patients.”
CytoDyn CEO Hopeful Leronlimab Will Reduce Mortality Rate
Nader Pourhassan, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of CytoDyn, said in a news release: “We are extremely pleased for the coronavirus patients under the care of the treating medical team and that the FDA is so responsive to advance our Phase 2 clinical trial. I am very hopeful that leronlimab can help to reduce the rate of mortality among COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms of ARDS and to assist our government to fight this battle.”
Bruce Patterson, M.D., chief executive officer and founder of IncellDx, a diagnostic partner and advisor to CytoDyn, said, “Our companion diagnostics showed that after three days of therapy, the immune profile in these patients approached normal levels and the levels of cytokines involved in the cytokine storm were much improved.”
