NOXCOVID

What we know or can deduce about NOXCOVID:

• Noxopharm must have evidence that Veyonda can stop a cytokine storm.  Why would a small company spend millions of dollars on a trial, unless it had reason to believe its drug might be effective?

• Dr Gartier of the Hudson Institute is a leader in STING and Septic Shock research.  Dr Gartier discovered that Veyonda inhibits STING when it is acting abnormally, which then inhibits a wide range of cytokines associated with death and disability in COVID-19 patients

• Inhibition of IL-6 alone does not work.  Sanofi recently announced that IL-6 inhibitor Kevzara failed its Phase III trial against severely or critically-ill COVID 19 patients. See https://tinyurl.com/y3kdl7b5
  1. The primary endpoint was time to improvement of 2 points or greater on a 7-point clinical scale (where 1=death; 2=hospitalized, on invasive mechanical ventilation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation;3=hospitalized, on non-invasive ventilation or high flow oxygen devices; 4=hospitalized, requiring supplemental oxygen; 5=hospitalized, not requiring supplemental oxygen - requiring ongoing medical care (COVID-19 related or otherwise); 6=hospitalized, not requiring supplemental oxygen - no longer requires ongoing medical care; 7=not hospitalized).  The key secondary endpoint was percentage of patients alive at Day 29.

• NOXCOVID seeks to help patients before they suffer lethal organ damage.  Sanofi appears to have recruited category 2 patients – hospitalized, on invasive mechanical ventilation; whereas Noxopharm looks like it will recruit category 4 patients – hospitalized, requiring supplementary oxygen.  The object is to stop the cytokine storm before mechanical ventilation is required.

• Efficacy should be known in a relatively short period.  Treatment lasts 14 days, with an option to extend to 28 days.  It will not take treating physicians long to know whether patients have regressed to category 3 (need high-flow oxygen); or improved to category 5 (not requiring oxygen).

• Trial Implications.  If treatment is effective, the world will be a safer place.  The big payoff to Noxopharm, however, is that Veyonda should become the approved drug for Septic Shock – an ongoing problem that kills about 10 million people each year.