Omeros: Prelim Results of Study of Critical COVID-19 Med Narsoplimab

 Study Patients Comprise Second Cohort from Bergamo, Italy --

Omeros Corporation (Nasdaq: OMER), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering, developing and commercializing small-molecule and protein therapeutics for large-market as well as orphan indications targeting inflammation, immunologic diseases (e.g., complement-mediated diseases and cancers) and central nervous system disorders, today announced preliminary results from the second cohort of critically ill COVID-19 patients treated with narsoplimab in Bergamo, Italy. These patients were part of the "second surge" of COVID-19 in Italy. Narsoplimab is the company’s lead inhibitor of mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease 2 (MASP-2), the effector enzyme of the lectin pathway of complement.

"The COVID-19 patients in this group were even sicker than those in the first cohort of patients treated with narsoplimab at our institution during the pandemic’s outbreak," said Alessandro Rambaldi, MD, Professor, Department of Oncology and Hematology-Oncology at the University of Milan and Head of the Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII in Bergamo, Italy. "All of the patients had significant ARDS with 90 percent of them intubated at the start of narsoplimab treatment, the majority had multiple comorbidities and risk factors for poor outcome, and all had failed other therapies. The results in these patients are outstanding and further support what we have learned about the pathophysiology of COVID-19, the central role of endothelial damage in the disease, and the mechanism of action of narsoplimab."

The patients were treated under compassionate use at ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital between October 2020 and April 2021. Highlights of the study are as follows:

Baseline characteristics of the 10 study patients

• Median age: 65 years (range 41 to 79 years)

• 90% were men

• All had comorbidities/risk factors for poor outcome (i.e., diabetes, cardiovascular disease/hypertension, overweight/obese, dyslipidemia)

• Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) severity (by Berlin criteria) at time of intubation or ICU admission: 80% severe, 20% moderate

• All had failed other therapies (steroids)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/omeros-announces-preliminary-results-additional-124500629.html