Candidate: Camostat mesylate
Type: Inhibitor of the serine protease TMPRSS2. The drug is approved in Japan and South Korea for use in pancreatic inflammation.
Status: University of Aarhus on March 25 disclosed via ClinicalTrials.gov plans for the Phase I/II CamoCO-19 trial (NCT04321096). The estimated 180-patient, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial is designed to assess camostat mesilate as a potential treatment for COVID-19. The study’s estimated primary completion date is December 31, 2020.
The trial was launched less than a month after a research team led by investigators at the German Primate Center reported in the journal Cell that they tested SARS-CoV-2 isolated from a patient, and found that camostat mesilate blocked entry of the virus into lung cells. “Our results suggest that camostat mesilate might also protect against COVID-19,” stated lead author Markus Hoffmann, PhD, of the Primate Center.
COVID-19: 200 Candidates and Counting
To navigate through the >200 potential therapeutic and vaccine options for COVID-19, GEN has grouped the candidates into four broad categories based on their developmental and (where applicable) clinical progress:
● FRONT RUNNER – the most promising therapeutics/vaccines based on clinical progress, favorable data or both.
● DEFINITELY MAYBE – earlier phases with promising partners, or more advanced candidates in development that have generated uneven data
● KEEPING AN EYE ON… – interesting technology, attracting notable partners, or both, but preliminary data.
● TOO SOON TO TELL – longshots pending additional experimental and/or clinical data.
GEN has also tagged the most common treatment types:
● ANTIVIRAL
● VAX
● ANTIBODY
● RNA
