Mesoblast claims coronavirus treatment breakthrough

Australia’s Mesoblast reports early success in its experimental therapy to treat COVID-19 patients who need ventilators.

A suspected COVID-19 patient is taken by ambulance to a hospital in New York. Picture: AFP

Stem cell-focused biotech Mesoblast has claimed a breakthrough in its experimental therapy to treat patients with potentially lethal coronavirus complications, reporting a significant increase in survival rates after a fortnight of testing.

The Anthony Pratt and Thorney Investment-backed company has begun a clinical trial in the US, with the support of the National Institutes of Health, to test whether its new therapy remestemcel-L can fight COVID-19.

Mesoblast reported on Friday that after two weeks of testing, it had recorded an 83 per cent survival rate in ventilator-dependent COVID-19 patients, while 75 per cent of patients have successfully come off ventilator support within 10 days.

This compared with a 12 per cent survival rate in ventilator-dependent COVID-19 patients and 9 per cent being able to come off ventilator support within the recommended treatment time.

Mesoblast’s findings coincided with a US study from the Northwell Health Hospital System in New York reporting little more than a tenth of coronavirus patients who are put on ventitalors survive. This backed earlier reports from US emergency departments.

Ventilators have been held up as a hope for the sickest COVID-19 patients, prompting a scramble for the machines by US states.

A suspected VOVID-19 patient is transported to the emergency room of a New York hospital. Picture: AFP

Mesoblast developed remestemcel-L to counteract inflammation from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which has a mortality rate of about 80 per cent in coronavirus-infected patients.

Since March 24, Mesoblast’s shares have soared 114 per cent to $2.47 as it progresses its COVID-19-busting treatment.

Chief executive Silviu Itescu said the early success in the trial, performed at New York City’s Mt Sinai hospital, showed how the treatment could save lives.

The need for a viable treatment is desperately needed, with COVID-19 to date killing 188,000 people worldwide and infecting 2.7 million others.

ARDS occurs due to an excessive immune response when COVID-19 infects the lungs.

Immune cells secrete inflammatory cytokines to fight the virus but those cytokines can destroy lung tissue and damage other organs, including the liver, kidneys and heart.

Mesoblast has already successfully used the treatment on children who developed a similar deadly immune reaction.

“The remarkable clinical outcomes in these critically-ill patients continue to underscore the potential benefits of remestemcel-L as an anti-inflammatory agent in cytokine release syndromes associated with high mortality, including acute graft versus host disease and COVID-19 ARDS,” Dr Itescu said.

“We intend to rapidly complete the randomised, placebo-controlled phase 2/3 trial in COVID-19 ARDS patients to rigorously confirm that remestemcel-L improves survival in these critically ill patients.”

“Remarkable clinical outcomes.” Mesoblast CEO Silviu Itescu. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Mesoblast chief medical officer Fred Grossman said: “There is a significant need to improve the dismal survival outcomes in COVID-19 patients who progress to ARDS and require ventilators.

“We have implemented robust statistical analyses in our phase 2/3 trial as recommended by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in order to maximise our ability to evaluate whether remestemcel-L provides a survival benefit in moderate/severe COVID- 19 ARDS,” Dr Grossman said.