CORAT begins COR-101 clinical trial in hospitalized Covid patients

CORAT Therapeutics said that it has begun a phase 1b/2 clinical trial of its antibody drug candidate COR-101 for the treatment of hospitalized Covid-19 patients.

According to the German pharma company, COR-101 can complement presently approved antibody drugs, which are not indicated for patients with moderate to severe Covid-19 because of side effects during advanced stages of the infection.

The first patient in the early-stage clinical trial was administered with COR-101 at the University Hospital of Tuebingen in Germany. The phase 1b/2 trial is designed to assess the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of COR-101 across five study centers in Germany in hospitalized patients.

CORAT Therapeutics said that the presently approved vaccines protect people from getting Covid-19, but are not effective in treating people with active infection. Apart from that, not all people respond to vaccination.

CORAT Therapeutics begins COR-101 clinical trial in hospitalized Covid patients. Image courtesy of Daniel Roberts from Pixabay.

Dr. Helmut Salih at the University Hospital of Tuebingen, who is the national coordinating investigator of the clinical trial, said: “COR-101 is conceptualized to treat adult patients, who are hospitalized due to COVID-19 and who may already require oxygen. We are confident that this trial will run successfully.”

Results from the first phase of the clinical trial are expected to come out in a few months.

COR-101 is said to be a fully human IgG monoclonal antibody, which has been isolated from recovered Covid-19 patients.

The antibody drug candidate is claimed to stop the SARS-CoV-2 virus from infecting new cells by attaching to the surface of the virus. This action stops that the virus from binding to human cells.

Dr. Andreas Herrmann – CEO of CORAT Therapeutics said: “In contrast to plasma therapy and some of the other emergency approved monoclonal antibodies, COR-101 is specifically designed not to induce elevated immune responses that contribute to lung damage.

“We have achieved this by knocking out the appropriate signaling sites in the molecule. This enables treatment of patients with high viral loads who already have advanced COVID-19 disease.”