From interims in Sept6 Jan 2020 10:02
Operational
· Phase II trial of inhaled interferon beta (IFN-beta) for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients progressing well, with four new sites added in 2019
· At 30 June 2019, 43 confirmed virus-positive patients had been dosed. At 27 September 2019, this had increased to 55 patients and we now have over 200 patients who have passed screening and are in the pool waiting to develop cold/flu symptoms and provide the remaining 65 dosed patients to meet our target of 120. The trial is expected to complete dosing in Q1 2020, with results available in Q2 2020
· In July 2019, a blinded data analysis showed that respiratory viruses were having a significant impact on the COPD patients enrolled in the trial when they got cold/flu infections, providing an opportunity for inhaled IFN-beta to reduce symptom severity and show clinical benefit
· We are also engaging with different clinical teams to evaluate the potential of IFN-beta in many other patient types who become severely ill with these common, and normally benign, respi