Several media outlets have shared how Annexin and its Use to Treat Inflammatory Disorders, an innovation WORLDiscoveries has been working diligently to commercialize, is being used in a trial to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients with sepsis.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that occurs when the body’s response to an infection turns into an overwhelming inflammatory response. The inflammatory response can cause damage to organs such as the heart, liver, lungs, and even the brain. Most critically ill COVID-19 patients develop sepsis.

“With COVID initially, it is in the airway and then in the lungs, then from there the inflammatory response in fact spreads to the whole body,” says Dr. Qingping Feng, Lawson Scientist and Ivey Chair in Molecular Toxicology at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. “Sepsis causes major organ dysfunction and carries a high mortality unfortunately.”

Annexin A5 is a multi-faceted protein with potent anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and anticoagulant effects. Clinical trials have begun at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) that will use Annexin A5 to treat COVID-19 patients who develop sepsis. The goal is to administer the treatment to 60 patients.

“Patients are receiving standard treatment and then those enrolled will also receive the Annexin,” says Dr. Claudio Martin, Intensive Care Physician at LHSC. “It’s a placebo blinded clinical trial, so patients will either get a lower dose of Annexin, a higher dose of Annexin or a placebo.”

If the clinical trial shows promising results the team plans on expanding into a larger phase three trial with not just COVID-19 patients with sepsis, but other sepsis patients as well.

“If in fact Annexin A5 is shown to be effective in sepsis, this will be a huge benefit for society because sepsis is the leading cause of death worldwide,” states Dr. Feng.

The drug is being produced through a partnership with China based Suzhou Yabao Pharmaceutical R&D Co. Ltd., Lawson Health Research Institute and WORLDiscoveries. 

“Our long-standing partnership with Suzhou Yabao has enabled annexin A5 drug development to proceed to this point,” says Kirk Brown, Senior Business Development Manager at WORLDiscoveries. “We are now in a unique position through this trial to offer a potential life-saving treatment for this emergent global disease, with the objective of soon expanding to all cause septic patients.”

Several media outlets picked up the story:

London researchers: Could human protein treat COVID patients with sepsis? – London Free Press

COVID-19: Potential sepsis treatment moves to human trials in London, Ont. – Global News

New sepsis treatment being used on critical COVID-19 patients – Blackburn News