RE: Revive Therapeutics to Expand Phase 3 Clinical Trial for Bu
Revive Therapeutics to Expand Phase 3 Clinical Trial for Bucillamine in COVID-19 in Asia-Pacific and Canada
TORONTO, Aug. 19, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Revive Therapeutics Ltd. (“Revive” or the “Company”) (CSE: RVV, USA: RVVTF), a specialty life sciences company focused on the research and development of therapeutics for medical needs and rare disorders, is pleased to announce that following the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (“U.S. FDA”) approval to proceed with the Company’s Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Bucillamine in patients with mild-moderate COVID-19, the Company is proceeding with plans to expand the Phase 3 clinical trials in Asia-Pacific Countries (“APAC”) and Canada.
“With the approval from the FDA to conduct the Phase 3 clinical trial in COVID-19 and our progress that we have made to date, we are now establishing plans to complement and support our initiatives in the U.S. to include clinical sites in APAC and Canada,” said Michael Frank, Revive’s Chief Executive Officer.
Revive expects to open the Phase 3 clinical trial for patient enrollment and dosing in September 2020. Further to the Company signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Attwill Medical Solutions Sterilflow, LP (“AMS”) to establish AMS as a resource for clinical packaging and distribution for the Phase 3 clinical trial, the Company continues to finalize vendor agreements in project management, medical monitoring, and data management. In addition, Revive and its clinical trial partners are evaluating potential clinical sites and clinical investigators in the U.S., APAC and Canada to complement some of the sites previously mentioned in California, Florida, Arizona, and Texas.
About the Phase 3 Confirmatory Clinical Study
The Phase 3 confirmatory clinical study titled, “A Multi-Center, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Bucillamine in Patients with Mild-Moderate COVID-19”, will enroll up to 1,000 patients that will be randomized 1:1:1 to receive Bucillamine 100 mg three times a day (“TID”), Bucillamine 200 mg TID or placebo TID for up to 14 days. The primary objective is to compare frequency of hospitalization or death in patients with mild-moderate COVID-19 receiving Bucillamine therapy with those receiving placebo. The primary endpoint is the proportion of patients meeting a composite endpoint of hospitalization or death from the time of first dose through Day 28 following randomization. Efficacy will be assessed by comparison of clinical outcome (death or hospitalization), disease severity using the 8-category NIAID COVID ordinal scale, supplemental oxygen use, and progression of COVID19 between patients receiving standard-of-care plus Bucillamine (high dose and/or low dose) and patients receiving standard-of-care plus placebo. Safety will be assessed by reported pre-treatment adverse events and treatment-emergent adverse events (including serious adverse events and adverse events of special interest), laboratory values (hematology and serum chemistry), vital signs (heart rate, respiratory rate, and temperature), and peripheral oxygen saturation.
An interim analysis will be performed by an Independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (“DSMB”) after 210 patients have been treated and followed up for a total of 28 days after randomization. The better performing Bucillamine dose at the interim analysis will be selected and patients will then be randomized 2:1 to the selected Bucillamine dose or placebo. Additional interim analyses will be performed after 400, 600, and 800 patients have reached this same post-treatment timepoint. The independent DSMB will actively monitor interim data for the ongoing safety of patients and will recommend continuation, stopping or changes to the conduct of the study based on the interim analysis reports.
The Company is not making any express or implied claims that its product has the ability to eliminate or cure COVID-19 (SARS-2 Coronavirus) at this time.
Scientific Rationale of Bucillamine for COVID-19
Preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated that reactive oxygen species contribute to the destruction and programmed cell death of pulmonary epithelial cells.1 N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) has been shown to significantly attenuate clinical symptoms in respiratory viral infections in animals and humans, primarily via donation of thiols to increase antioxidant activity of cellular glutathione2,3,4,5. Bucillamine (N-(mercapto-2-methylpropionyl)-l-cysteine) has a well-known safety profile and is prescribed in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in Japan and South Korea for over 30 years. Bucillamine, a cysteine derivative with two thiol groups, has been shown to be 16 times more potent as a thiol donor in vivo than NAC 6. The drug is non-toxic with high cellular permeability. The basis of the clinical study will analyze if Bucillamine has the potential, via increasing glutathione activity and other anti-inflammatory activity, to lessen the destructive consequences of SARS-CoV2 infection in the lungs and attenuate the clinical course of COVID-19.