PEI Regulatory Approval Received for Government Funded (€ 7.4 Million) Clinical Trial Investigating Adrenomed’s Adrecizumab in Treating Endothelial Barrier Dysfunction in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients
Hennigsdorf/Berlin (Germany), April 11, 2022 – Adrenomed AG, the vascular integrity company, today announced that its proprietary sepsis drug candidate Adrecizumab (HAM8101) received a funding commitment of € 7.4 million from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the German funding initiatives for the clinical development of COVID-19 drugs and their manufacturing capabilities. The University Medical Center Eppendorf (UKE) Hamburg and Adrenomed will receive funds to conduct an investigator initiated Phase II clinical trial with Adrecizumab in hospitalized patients with moderate to severe COVID-19, which has received regulatory approval by the German federal agency, Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI). Additionally, the BMBF will support financially the manufacturing of GMP Phase III clinical trial material.
Adrecizumab, a first-in-class antibody targeting the vasoprotective peptide adrenomedullin, is currently being developed for the treatment of loss of vascular integrity in sepsis and septic shock. Dysregulation of the endothelial barrier appears to be a common feature of COVID-19 patients and sepsis or septic shock patients. The deteriorated endothelial barrier function leads to vascular leakage and severe impairment of lung and other organ functions. In a novel precision medicine approach, patients with elevated adrenomedullin levels will be treated with Adrecizumab to restore and maintain the endothelial barrier and to avoid further organ dysfunction. At the same time, another biomarker (dipeptidyl peptidase-3, DPP3) is used to exclude patients with an additional competing pathophysiology. The UKE has initiated a national, multicenter, biomarker-guided, placebo-controlled Phase II trial to evaluate the efficacy of Adrecizumab plus standard of care (SOC) and plans to enroll more than 200 patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 and elevated adrenomedullin levels.
Prof. Dr. med. Stefan Kluge, Director of the Department of Intensive Care Medicine at UKE, said: “We urgently need effective drugs for the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Particularly important are therapies that can be used in severe cases and can be given at later disease stages. Adrecizumab could potentially be a therapy that can address this treatment gap. In a previous named-patient program with critically ill COVID-19 patients treated with Adrecizumab, we have already observed a rapid improvement in organ function. Based on these results and the positive signals from the AdrenOSS-2 study in septic shock, we will now evaluate a precision medicine approach with Adrecizumab to treat COVID-19 patients with deteriorating endothelial function and increased risk of organ failure and mortality.”
“With Adrecizumab we provide a treatment option that aims at restoring and maintaining the impaired vascular integrity in COVID-19 other than antiviral drugs”, Dr. Jens Zimmermann, Chief Medical Officer at Adrenomed added. “This approach may help to improve the organ function and thus survival rates of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. We are very grateful for this financial support granted by the BMBF which enables Adrenomed to pursue the clinical development of Adrecizumab in the treatment of COVID-19, as well as the manufacturing process.”
Dr. Richard Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Adrenomed, stated: “This funding commitment of € 7.4 million from the BMBF is a significant endorsement of Adrenomed’s innovative bio-marker guided precision medicine approach for patients in the acute care setting. This clinical study further compliments our overall development program of Adrecizumab for the treatment of loss of vascular integrity in sepsis and septic shock in collaboration with our strategic partner, Sphingotec.”
About Adrenomed
Adrenomed AG is a German privately financed, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. Adrenomed’s mission is to rescue vascular integrity and save the lives of critically ill patients with limited treatment options. Founded in 2009 by a management team with decades of in-depth experience in sepsis and deep knowledge in diagnostics and drug development, the company’s lead product candidate Adrecizumab (INN: enibarcimab) is a first-in-class monoclonal antibody. Adrecizumab targets the vasoprotective peptide Adrenomedullin, an essential regulator of vascular integrity. Adrecizumab has successfully completed a biomarker-guided, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized, multicenter proof-of-concept Phase II trial with 301 patients suffering from septic shock. For further information, please visit www.adrenomed.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
