RedHill's oral opaganib reduces mortality from severe COVID-19 by 70%

Israeli drug developer RedHill Biopharma (Nasdaq: RDHL) shares were down 5.5% at $2.39 by late-morning New York trading despite announcing encouraging results from two recently completed prespecified analyses from the oral opaganib (ABC294640) Phase II/III study in hospitalized severe COVID-19.

The first analysis showed that opaganib significantly reduced mortality when given to patients who received remdesivir and corticosteroids, the best available standard-of-care (SoC) for hospitalized patients.

A second analysis further showed that opaganib delivered a significant benefit in time to recovery, defined as achieving a score of 1 or less on the WHO Ordinal Scale by Day 14. The Company is advancing regulatory discussions in multiple countries, with potential emergency and marketing authorization applications being planned for certain countries in the first half of 2022.