Rigel Pharmaceuticals
(NASDAQ:RIGL) jumps 18% after
initiating an investigator-sponsored trial (IST) being conducted by Imperial College London to evaluate the efficacy of fostamatinib, its oral spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) inhibitor, for the treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia.
SYK is a key mediator of immunoreceptor signaling in a host of inflammatory cells. By inhibiting SYK, fostamatinib may specifically inhibit the infiltration and activation of monocytes and neutrophils in the lungs that are prominent in COVID-19.
The IST will be a two-stage trial with patients randomized (1:1:1) to fostamatinib, ruxolitinib, or standard of care. The primary objective will be to determine the efficacy of fostamatinib and ruxolitinib compared to standard of care to reduce the proportion of hospitalized patients progressing from mild or moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia.
Rigel will provide support for this trial along with Novartis.
On another note, researchers in Massachusetts recently screened 3,713 FDA-approved compounds that reduce the abundance of a protein called mucin-1 (MUC1), a biomarker to predict the development of acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Fostamatinib was the only one that qualified, demonstrating preferential depletion of MUC1 from epithelial cells without affecting cell viability.
The company markets fostamatinib in the U.S. under the band name Tavalisse for chronic immune thrombocytopenia.
