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- Cynata Therapeutics (CYP) has received ethics committee approval to expand the recruitment criteria of its MEND clinical trial
- The trial was originally designed to test the company’s Cymerus mesenchymal stem cells in people with COVID-related respiratory failure
- The trial will now expand to include patients with respiratory failure arising from other causes besides COVID-19
- This change will increase the pool of eligible patients, thereby accelerating recruitment and completion of the trial
- Cynata Therapeutics is down 3.17 per cent and trading at 61 cents per share
Cynata Therapeutics (CYP) has received ethics committee approval to expand the recruitment criteria of its MEND clinical trial.
The company’s mesenchymal COVID-19 (MEND) trial is an open-label, randomised controlled clinical trial, which is currently active. The trial was originally designed to test the efficacy of Cynata’s mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in patients suffering from respiratory failure caused by COVID-19.
However, COVID-19 is not the only disease capable of resulting in respiratory failure, or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Additionally, Australia’s successful suppression of the COVID-19 pandemic means that there are not many people in the country who would be eligible under the trial’s current parameters.
As such, the trial will now expand to include patients in intensive care, who have been admitted with respiratory failure arising from other causes besides COVID-19. With COVID-19 no longer a requirement of eligibility, Cynata’s trial will be able to test its MSC’s in people with respiratory distress caused by diseases such as influenza.
The company is now looking to enrol 24 adult patients, who have been admitted to intensive care with respiratory distress or compromised lung function in select Australian hospitals.
Cynata’s Chief Operating Officer, Dr Kilian Kelly, commented that the clinical trial expansion will substantially increase the catchment of patients, thereby accelerating recruitment for and completion of the MEND trial.
“We have developed a solid pre-clinical data set in relevant diseases models of the severe respiratory distress and associated complications suffered by many patients affected by respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) and influenza,” he said.
“This expansion will increase the number of patients eligible for recruitment into this trial, which is designed to investigate the potential benefits of our MSCs in treating these severely ill patients,” he added.
Cynata Therapeutics is down 3.17 per cent, trading at 61 cents per share at 2:42 pm AEDT.
