Agile and funding.28 Jun 2021 22:04
AGILE is a UK phase 1 and 2a clinical trial platform designed for rapid clinical evaluation of potential COVID-19 treatments
It is a collaboration between the University of Liverpool, the University of Southampton Research Unit, and other external partners
The innovative design of the trial means that multiple potential treatments can be evaluated in parallel and important testing stages can be completed in months rather than years, while maintaining a high level of safety at all times
Patients in early stages of COVID-19 infection will be recruited to AGILE from the community, in addition to patients who have been hospitalised with COVID-19
Treatments that show a signal of benefit in AGILE will be rapidly considered for advancement into later phase clinical trial platforms, such as PRINCIPLE and RECOVERY, where the effectiveness of treatments can be proven in greater patient numbers
The Therapeutics Taskforce will work with innovators to support them to progress their promising treatments through clinical trial phases
4 treatments have so far been selected for AGILE:
EIDD-2801 (Molnupiravir), an antiviral
VIR-7831 and VIR-7832, both monoclonal antibodies
Niclosamide, an anthelminthic
Future treatments to enter AGILE will be selected by the UK COVID-19 Therapeutics Advisory Panel (UK-CTAP), who lead the process of reviewing and evaluating proposals for treatments to enter UK national trial platforms – read more about UK-CTAP and how drug proposals can be made
The UK was the first in the world to find a treatment which was proven to significantly reduce the risk of death: dexamethasone, found through the government-funded RECOVERY trial
On Thursday 11 February, RECOVERY also found the drug tocilizumab, when administered to hospitalised patients on oxygen with dexamethasone, further reduces the risk of death by 14% and length of hospital stay for patients by 5 whole days, on top of the benefits of dexamethasone – which will mean once rolled out to patients will significantly reduce pressures on the NHS
REMAP-CAP, which also received government funding, last month published results showing tocilizumab reduced the length of time in hospital by 10 days when administered to patients with 24 hours of being admitted to intensive care
Funders
The AGILE Initiative is made possible thanks to support provided through a variety of donors. In addition to funding provided by Unitaid and the Steve Morgan Foundation, some candidate-specific trials will be funded directly and solely through companies (for example, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, Glaxo Smith Kline, Vir Biotechnology). Collaborative financial support has also been provided by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, University of Liverpool, and Southampton Clinical Trials Unit as well as the NHS (Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust).
Interesting to see Glaxo there with a 100 billion dollar market cap.