Dec. 14 COVID roundup: Phase III miss for Incyte-Novartis JAK inhibitor; Queensland vaccine program axed; plus Sputnik V final efficacy and Phase II starts for CureVac and Inovio
No benefit in Phase III for Incyte, Novartis JAK inhibitor
Jakafi ruxolitinib from Incyte Corp. (NASDAQ:INCY) and Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN) plus standard of care vs. SOC alone did not reduce the proportion of patients with severe complications including death, respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation and ICU admission by day 29 (12% vs. 11.8% p=0.769). In the 432-subject Phase III RUXCOVID study to treat patients ages ≥12 with COVID-19-associated cytokine storm, the oral JAK-1/JAK-2 inhibitor also failed to lower mortality and time to recovery.
Olumiant baricitinib, another oral JAK-1/JAK-2 inhibitor from Incyte and licensed to Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY), reduced recovery time in hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the Phase III ACTT-2 trial when added to Veklury remdesivir from Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD). NIH published the data Friday in The New England Journal of Medicine...