PhaseBio drops pemziviptadil program in COVID-19

Cardiopulmonary diseases focussed US firm PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: PHAS) on Friday announced that, after a strategic review of the VANGARD clinical trial of its investigational drug pemziviptadil that included an assessment of the evolving COVID-19 treatment landscape, feedback from the US Food and Drug Administration and an interim analysis of the VANGARD study data, it has elected to discontinue the trial.

Importantly, pemziviptadil was generally well tolerated and there was no adverse safety signal reported in the VANGARD trial, said the company, whose shares nevertheless fell 8.5% to $3.20 by close of trading.

In response to the medical community’s rapidly evolving understanding of COVID-19 disease progression and approaches to treatment, PhaseBio recently submitted a revised VANGARD trial protocol and received feedback from the FDA regarding the regulatory and development path in COVID-related ARDS.