BioCentury
ARTICLE | Product Development

AZ targeting cytokine storms as ranks of repurposed agents for COVID-19 grow

BioCentury is providing this story for free given the urgent need for information about the COVID-19 crisis. For more analysis, sign up for our daily email.

April 15, 2020 2:12 AM UTC

AstraZeneca joins the growing list of companies targeting cytokine storms caused by COVID-19 with plans to start a trial of its Btk inhibitor to treat patients with severe disease. The announcement came Tuesday amid another flurry of updates from companies around the globe developing countermeasures to battle the outbreak.

Only about one quarter of the repurposed agents in clinical testing for COVID-19 got their start in infectious disease; almost as many were initially developed for cancer like Calquence acalabrutinib from AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NYSE:AZN) as for infections (see Daily Chart)...