On July 27, 2020, Humanigen, Inc., (HGEN) (https://www.humanigen.com/), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on preventing and treating “cytokine storm,” announced that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is part of the United States Government Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as represented by the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID), and Humanigen have executed a clinical trial agreement for lenzilumab, the company’s proprietary Humaneered®anti-human granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) monoclonal antibody drug candidate, as an agent to be evaluated in the NIAID-sponsored Big Effect Trial (BET) in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. BET will help advance NIAID’s strategic plan for COVID-19 research, which includes conducting studies to advance high-priority therapeutic candidates.1 Identification of agents with novel mechanisms of action for therapy is a strategic priority. This trial builds on initial data from NIAID’s Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial (ACTT) that demonstrated Gilead’s investigational antiviral, remdesivir, may improve time to recovery in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. BET will evaluate the combination of lenzilumab and remdesivir on treatment outcomes versus placebo and remdesivir in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The trial is expected to enroll 100 patients in each arm of the study with an interim analysis for efficacy after 50 patients have been enrolled in each arm.Login Or Register To Read Full Story