Humanigen, Inc. a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on preventing and treating an immune hyper-response called ‘cytokine storm,’ announced the U.S. FDA has declined its request for emergency use authorization of lenzilumab to treat newly hospitalized COVID-19 patients. In its letter, FDA stated that it was unable to conclude that the known and potential benefits of lenzilumab outweigh the known and potential risks of its use as a treatment for COVID-19.
“We remain committed to bringing lenzilumab to patients hospitalized with COVID-19,” said Cameron Durrant, MD, Chief Executive Officer, Humanigen. “We believe the ongoing ACTIV-5/BET-B trial, which has been advanced to enroll up to 500 patients, may provide additional safety and efficacy data sufficient to support our efforts to obtain an EUA to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients.”