COVID-19 Clinical Trials and Expanded Access

COVID-19 is associated with complications including ARDS and myocardial injury, which informs prognosis and patient outcome. The laboratory plans to perform immunophenotyping of peripheral T-cells in patients with COVID-19 and complications (ARDS, ITU admission, myocardial injury) and map this against clinical patient outcomes. The aim is to determine if there is a specific T-cell immunophenotype associated with COVID-19 and/or complications, which can be used to inform prognosis and potential therapies.

Immunotherapy based on Adoptive Cellular Transfer (ACT) uses several types of immune cells, including dendritic cells, cytotoxic T lymphocytes, lymphokine-activated killer cells, and NK cells. NK cell-based immunotherapies are an attractive approach for treating diseases because of their characteristic recognition and killing mechanisms; they are involved in the early defense against infectious pathogens and against MHC class-I-negative or -low-expressing targets without the requirement for prior immune sensitization of the host and are able to lyse target through the release of perforin and granzymes and using antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity pathways mediated by Fc receptor for IgG (CD16). The aim of this project is to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of allogeneic NK cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of healthy donors in patients infected with COVID-19 collected by apheresis. This allows us to collect cGMP PBMCs and immunomagnetic remove several types of undesirable cells including B, T and CD33+ cells with enrichment of NK cells that will be expanded in bioreactors with GMP culture media (AIM-V) supplemented with human AB serum and GMP grade IL-2, and IL-15. After quality control verification the final NK cell product will be resuspended in 300 mL saline solution for intravenous infusion. Initially, we will enroll in this study ten COVID-19 infected adult patients with moderate symptoms (NEWS 2 scale score>4). Consent forms will be signed by the patient before the therapy. Patients will be treated with three different infusions of NK cells 48 h apart with 1, 10, and 20 million cells/kg body weight. We will follow the patients for any adverse effect, clinical response and immune effects by flow cytometry including markers for NK cells expressing different markers (CD158b, NKG2A, and IFN-y). We anticipated that the release of IFN-y by exogenous NK cells could attract other immune cell populations to boost the immune response against COVID-19.

This phase III trial compares the effect of adding tocilizumab to standard of care versus standard of care alone in treating cytokine release syndrome (CRS) in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. CRS is a potentially serious disorder caused by the release of an excessive amount of substance that is made by cells of the immune system (cytokines) as a response to viral infection. Tocilizumab is used to decrease the body's immune response. Adding tocilizumab to standard of care may work better in treating CRS in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to standard of care alone.

Until the first half of April, Colombia has more than 2,800 infected cases and a hundred deaths as a result of COVID-19, with Antioquia being the third department with the highest number of cases. Official records indicate that, in Colombia, the first case was diagnosed on March 6, 2020, corresponding to a patient from Italy. However, in conversations with several infectologists and intensivists from Medellín, it was agreed that clinical cases similar to the clinical presentation that is now recognized as COVID-19 had arisen since the end of 2019 when it was still unknown to everyone. The previous suggests that the virus was already circulating in the country since before March 6, 2020. But at that moment, there were no tools to make a clinical identification, nor to diagnose it from the laboratory's point of view. Considering as real the hypothesis that the infection has been circulating in the country since before the first official diagnosis, the question arises: Why does not the country still has the same healthcare and humanitarian chaos that countries such as Italy and Spain are suffering at this time? To answer this question may be that there are differences in vaccination rates with BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guérin or tuberculosis vaccine), which is significantly higher in Latin America compared to those in Europe. This finding could explain to some extent the situation in the country, since previous studies have shown the influence that this vaccine can have on the immune response against various other pathogens, including viruses. Among the population at risk of infection, health-care workers due to their permanent contact with patients are the population group with the highest risk of contracting SARS-Cov-2 and developing COVID-19 in any of its clinical manifestations, and currently there are no vaccines or proven preventive interventions available to protect them. For this reason, this research study aims to demonstrate whether the centennial vaccine against tuberculosis (BCG), a bacterial disease, can activate the human immune system in a broad way, allowing it to better combat the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and, perhaps, prevents the complications that lead the patient to the intensive care unit and death. In the future, and if these results are as expected, they may be the basis for undertaking a population vaccination campaign that improves clinical outcomes in the general population.

Chronic fatigue is the most common and debilitating symptom in intensive care unit (ICU) survivors. Indeed, it has been widely reported that patients who stayed in ICU for prolonged periods report a feeling of tiredness for months to years after ICU discharge. This symptom seems particularly pronounced in Covid-19 patients and may affect their quality of life by decreasing their capacity to perform simple tasks of daily life. The aim of the present project is to determine whether deteriorated neuromuscular function (i.e. increased fatigability) is involved in the feeling of fatigue of Covid-19 patients. Because the causes of this feeling are multi-dimensional, a large battery of tests will allow us to better understand the origin of chronic fatigue. A better knowledge of chronic fatigue etiology and its recovery will allow to optimize rehabilitation treatments to shorten the persistence of chronic fatigue and in fine improve life quality.

Biological collection (blood sample) associated with clinical data from Covid-19 patients

Multicenter investigation featuring an open-label lead-in followed by a double blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2/3 part to evaluate the safety and efficacy of MultiStem therapy in subjects with moderate to severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) due to pathogens including COVID-19.

In this study (i) the host genome to identify susceptibility regions of infection, inflammation, and host defense, (ii) host response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Corona-Virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and (iii) viral sequence composition to define viral sequences which may be correlated with disease severity in addition to the metagenome of the throat swab will be analysed .

The disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a viral disease that infects the lungs, producing flu-like symptoms. Elderly infected patients and/or those with co-morbidities may suffer from acute respiratory distress syndrome due to pneumonia (COVID-19 disease). Given the high transmission, this virus has spread in recent months from Wuhan (China) to the whole world, becoming a global emergency pandemic. The lack of curative treatment for this disease justifies the need to carry out clinical trials that provide quality evidence on treatment options. Given the pathophysiology of the disease, which involves an uncontrolled inflammatory response of alveolar cells, a treatment that attenuates the cytokine cascade could be key in rescuing the patient's lung tissue. Mesenchymal cells, due to their immunoregulatory potential and regenerative capacity, can be an effective treatment for patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In the present study we propose a therapy with undifferentiated allogeneic mesenchymal cells derived from umbilical cord tissue, a treatment whose safety has already been described in other clinical trials and that shows promising results in pilot studies carried out in China.

The understanding of haemostasis and inflammation cross-talk has gained considerable knowledge during the past decade in the field of arterial and venous thrombosis. Complex and delicately balanced interaction between coagulation and inflammation involve all cellular and humoral components. Elements of the coagulation system such as activated thrombin, fibrinogen or factor Xa may increase inflammation by promoting the production of proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines, growth factors and adhesion molecules that lead to a procoagulant state amplifying the pathological process. Recent evidence supports inflammation as a common pathogenic contributor to both arterial and venous thrombosis, giving rise to the concept of inflammation induced thrombosis. Patients with infection of COVID-19 and severe pneumoniae seem to have higher risk of thromboembolism. The purpose of this project is to analyze hemostasis and coagulation of every hospitalized patient with infection of COVID-19. Blood sample for coagulation and hemostasis analysis will be collected on every patient hospitalized in Amiens hospital for COVID-19 infection. Thrombin time, factors V and II, fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products, antithrombin will be assessed every week. Anticardiolipin, anti-beta2 glycoprotein I and anti-annexin A2 antibodies IgG and IgM at day of admission and at fourth week after admission will be assessed. SARS-CoV2 viral load and serodiagnosis will be performed at the same time. At the same time venous ultrasound to diagnose thrombosis will be performed.