Coronavirus: Trial treatment of IC14 targets worst cases

An anti-inflammatory drug is set to be tested in clinical trials as a way to prevent the most deadly phase of COVID-19.

Aus­tralian bio-pharma Implicit Bioscience chief executive Garry Redlich. Picture: Mark Calleja

An anti-inflammatory drug invented by a US research institute and being developed by an Australian biopharmaceutical company is set to be tested in clinical trials as a way to prevent the most deadly phase of COVID-19.

The drug is a monoclonal antibody treatment — a form of ­immunotherapy — that targets the body’s inflammatory response that is responsible for causing multiple organ failure in severe cases of COVID-19.

The drug, known as IC14, targets an immune system protein called CD14. Administration of the drug has been shown in a small clinical trial in the US to switch off the body’s production of inflammatory immune system proteins known as cytokines that flood the body in severe cases of COVID-19.

The chief executive of Aus­tralian bio-pharma Implicit Bioscience, Garry Redlich, said switching off the body’s inflammatory response could be key to preventing severe COVID-19 disease.

“COVID-19 kills its victims by precipitating what’s called a cytokine storm — that is a storm of inflammatory chemicals that are produced by the body in normal circumstances to kill invading bugs,” Mr Redlich said.

“This infection has the unfortunate propensity to trigger an ­absolute tsunami of these chemicals. They’re all very nasty and they make you very sick.

“The cytokine storm that these patients suffer damages the heart, the liver, the kidneys, the brain and the entire circulatory system.”

The drug’s targeting of CD14 is the key to preventing cytokine storms in the body.

CD14 helps immune cells recognise pathogens including bacteria and viruses, or substances released from injured or dying cells that alert the immune system to danger. CD14 exists on the surface of white blood cells and floats freely in the blood and lung fluids.

This dual existence allows it to amplify the body’s inflammatory responses in a variety of sites.

This inflammatory response, if it is excessive, triggers a cytokine storm.

“Our drug does not kill the virus, it’s not an antiviral, but it is an antibody to a receptor which is at the very top of the sequence of triggers that initiate this cytokine storm,” Mr Redlich said.

Implicit Bioscience is developing IC14 as a potential therapy to blunt the inflammation that ­causes motor neurone disease, but when COVID-19 emerged, it ­realised the drug’s potential application in treating the compli­cations of the disease.

IC14 can be used on a compassionate basis by doctors in Australia, with Implicit Bioscience applying to the Medical Research Future Fund for a grant to finance a larger clinical trial here.