On Jul. 14, 2020, Rigel Pharmaceuticals announced the initiation of an investigator-sponsored tria being conducted by Imperial College London to evaluate the efficacy of fostamatinib, its oral spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) inhibitor, for the treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia.

Fostamatinib, marketed in the U.S. as TAVALISSEﾮ (fostamatinib disodium hexahydrate) tablets, is approved in the U.S. and Europe as a treatment for adult chronic immune thrombocytopenia.