Professor Joanna Porter was delighted to be awarded over £2M from LifeArc to run two clinical trials in COVID-19.
The first, ATTRACT, is in collaboration with Vicore Pharma, whom we have worked with for over 10 years on developing novel approaches for pulmonary fibrosis. The drug, VP01 (Compound 21; C21) is hoped to recalibrate the renin-angiotensin- system towards repair rather than inflammation. This should indirectly help our research into pulmonary fibrosis too.
The second study, COVASE, is a collaboration with Veni Papayannopoulos and Veronique Brilaut at The Francis Crick Institute, to investigate an approved nebulised recombinant human deoxyribonuclease I (Dornase alfa) to reduce hyperinflammation from neutrophil extracellular traps in the lungs of hospitalised participants with COVID-19.
ATTRACT is open to recruitment and COVASE will open in the next two weeks.
Here’s the LifeArc press release with more info: https://www.lifearc.org/funding/covid-19-funding/