Mesoblast surges on coronavirus trial hopes

US-listed shares of Mesoblast surged 139.5 per cent on Friday after it claimed a breakthrough in the coronavirus battle.

US-listed shares of Mesoblast surged 139.5 per cent on Friday after the Australian biotech claimed a breakthrough in its ­experimental treatment to fight the coronavirus.

Mesoblast’s Nasdaq-listed shares gained $US9 to close at $US15.45 — a five-year high — after it reported a significant increase in survival rates on COVID-19-infected patients after a fortnight of testing its new therapy Remestemcel-L.

The share price leap put the Anthony Pratt and Thorney Investment-backed company’s stock in Wall Street’s top five weekly movers.

It is completing a clinical trial in the US, with the support of the National Institutes of Health, and is now planning to rapidly complete the randomised, placebo-controlled Phase 2/3 trial after its initial promising results.

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 had successfully come off ventilator support within 10 days.

This compares 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.

Global markets are acutely aware of the need for an effective coronavirus treatment, as the pandemic causes mass shutdowns and economic destruction. US stocks swung sharply on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average giving up most of a 400-point rally after Gilead Science’s much-hyped COVID-19 busting drug “flopped” in its first randomised clinical trial.

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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. Chief executive Silviu Itescu said the early success in the trial, performed at New York City’s Mount 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 had already successfully used the treatment on children who developed a similar deadly immune reaction called acute graph versus host disease

“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.”

Mesoblast chief medical officer Fred Grossman said there was “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.