On Sept. 17, 2020, Rigel Pharma announced the start of a multicenter, Phase 2 trial to evaluate the safety of fostamatinib, its oral spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) inhibitor, for treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The study was sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, in collaboration with Inovaﾮ Health System.

Fostamatinib, marketed in the U.S. as TAVALISSEﾮ (fostamatinib disodium hexahydrate) tablets, was approved in the U.S. in 2018 as a treatment for adult chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP).