L‘essai de phase II pour un médicament COVID israélien a confirmé les résultats de la phase I, qui a été menée en Israël l’hiver dernier et a vu quelque 29 des 30 patients modérés à graves se rétablir en quelques jours.
Quelque 93% des 90 patients atteints de coronavirus grave traités dans plusieurs hôpitaux grecs avec un nouveau médicament développé par une équipe du centre médical Sourasky de Tel Aviv dans le cadre de l’essai de phase II du traitement ont obtenu leur congé en cinq jours ou moins.
L’essai de phase II a confirmé les résultats de la phase I, qui a été menée en Israël l’hiver dernier et a vu 29 des 30 patients dans un état modéré à grave se rétablir en quelques jours.
« L’objectif principal de cette étude était de vérifier que le médicament est sûr », a déclaré le professeur Nadir Arber. « A ce jour, nous n’avons enregistré aucun effet secondaire significatif chez aucun patient des deux groupes. »
L’essai a été mené à Athènes parce qu’Israël n’avait pas suffisamment de patients pertinents. Le chercheur principal était le commissaire grec aux coronavirus, le professeur Sotiris Tsiodras
suite de l’article.
Arber and his team, including Dr. Shiran Shapira, developed the drug based on a molecule that the professor has been studying for 25 years called CD24, which is naturally present in the body.“It is important to remember that 19 out of 20 COVID-19 patients do not need any therapy,” Arber said. “After a window of five to 12 days, some 5% of the patients start to deteriorate.”The main cause of the clinical deterioration is an over activation of the immune system, also known as a cytokine storm. In case of COVID-19 patients, the system starts attacking healthy cells in the lungs.“This is exactly the problem that our drug targets,” he said.CD24 is a small protein that is anchored to the membrane of the cells and it serves many functions including regulating the mechanism responsible for the cytokine storm.Arber stressed that their treatment, EXO-CD24, does not affect the immune system as a whole, but only targets this specific mechanism, helping find again its correct balance.“This is precision medicine,” he said. “We are very happy that we have found a tool to tackle the physiology of the disease.”“Steroids for example shut down the entire immune system,” he further explained. “We are balancing the part responsible for the cytokine storms using the endogenous mechanism of the body, meaning tools offered by the body itself.”Arber noted that another breakthrough element of this treatment is its delivery.“We are employing exosomes, very small vesicles derived from the membrane of the cells which are responsible for the exchange of information between them,” he said.“By managing to deliver them exactly where they are needed, we avoid many side effects,” he added.The team is now ready to launch the last phase of the study.“As promising as the findings of the first phases of a treatment can be, no one can be sure of anything until results are compared to the ones of patients who receive a placebo,” he said.Some 155 coronavirus patients will take part in the study. Two-thirds of them will be administered the drug, and one-third a placebo.The study will be conducted in Israel and it might be also carried out in other places if the number of patients in the country will not suffice.“We hope to complete it by the end of the year,” Arber said.If the results are confirmed, he vowed that the treatment can be made available relatively quickly and at a low cost.“In addition, a success could pave the wave to treat many other diseases,” he concluded.
brunobertez 