A Prospective, Phase II Study to Evaluate Safety of 101-PGC-005 ('005) for Moderate to Severe COVID-19 Disease Along With Standard of Care

In December 2019, a novel pneumonia caused by a previously unknown pathogen emerged in Wuhan, China. The pathogen was soon identified as a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which is closely related to severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV (SARS-CoV) COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, leading to a major global public health threat. Many COVID-19 patients develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) leading to death. The recent RECOVERY Trial demonstrated the success of dexamethasone in treating late-stage COVID-19 patients. However, use of dexamethasone increases mortality in the early stage of the disease, and dexamethasone is further limited because the therapeutic dose and duration is insufficient to safely and effectively treat most COVID-19 patients. As the majority of cells have glucocorticoid receptors to which dexamethasone binds, highly toxic doses would be needed to effectively treat COVID-19, which results in increased mortality as well as decreased natural immunity (via T-cell and other immune cell modulation). The investigational product 101-PGC-005 ('005) - a prodrug of dexamethasone that is targeted to only activated macrophages - will address the many safety and efficacy issues that limit dexamethasone. '005 can achieve much higher anti-inflammatory doses and avoid all undesirable immunosuppressive activities caused by standard dexamethasone administration, resulting in an even greater reduction in mortality among hospitalized patients and significantly reducing long term morbidity in patients who survive.