On Mar. 7, 2022, Innovation Pharma announced the Company was conducting full data analysis of the Phase 2 Brilacidin COVID-19 clinical trial results to support Brilacidin’s potential inclusion in government-sponsored COVID-19 trials. Complete analysis of trial results already had begun, with the aim to potentially identify positive trends in the data that could support Brilacidin for inclusion in larger COVID-19 platform trials.

The Phase 2 trial was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Brilacidin treatment in addition to current standard-of-care (SoC) compared to SoC alone, in 120 hospitalized patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19. Study treatment, Brilacidin IV or saline IV (placebo), was administered as 3 doses or 5 doses. For efficacy analyses, the main comparison was between the Brilacidin 5-dose group and the pooled placebo group.

Even with randomization—stratified by age (<= 65 yrs, >65 yrs) and severity (moderate, severe)—patients allocated to the Brilacidin treatment groups exhibited a greater degree of disease burden at baseline, as reflected by higher, on average, elevated biomarker levels (e.g., CRP, viral load), in contrast to the pooled placebo group.

As previously released, Brilacidin did not show a difference compared to placebo in reducing Time to Sustained Recovery Through Day 29, the study’s primary endpoint based on clinical status. There was also no difference in mortality between active and placebo, with both groups experiencing low mortality rates (7 percent) compared to other studies that evaluated patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19. Beneficial Brilacidin treatment effects, however, were observed in NEWS2 secondary endpoints, as well as on the primary endpoint in patient subgroups, as summarized below.

Pharmacokinetic (PK) analysis (from measured plasma sample concentrations) provided comparable estimations to those seen previously in the Brilacidin IV program, although exposure was generally greater than observed prior (when comparing patients on similar treatment regimens for the indication of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections [ABSSSI]). These new PK data will help inform any future Brilacidin IV dosing strategies.

Brilacidin was generally well-tolerated by patients, with an overall safety profile in COVID-19 patients consistent with previous clinical studies. The incidence of patients with at least one treatment-emergent adverse event (TEAE) was higher for Brilacidin treatment compared to placebo.

However, the proportion of patients with TEAEs is similar across groups (72 percent on active, 65 percent on placebo) after excluding the Brilacidin-related adverse events of tingling (paresthesia) and hypoesthesia (numbness), which are known, transient, mostly mild, non-serious adverse events related to Brilacidin IV treatment. The incidence of serious adverse events was the same (12 percent on active, 12 percent on placebo), and no serious adverse events were reported as related to study treatment.