Edesa Biotech, Inc. announced the preprint publication of favorable data from a Phase 2 substudy of critically ill patients with a severe form of respiratory disease called Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Approximately 10% of all intensive care admissions are ARDS related. The formal manuscript available in preprint consists, in part, of mortality rates from critically ill patients who received mechanical ventilation plus additional organ support, including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy, and who were hospitalized for SARS-CoV2-related respiratory disease during the pandemic.

Among the findings, a survival analysis using Cox's Proportional Hazard Model demonstrated that patients treated with EB05 (paridiprubart) plus standard of care had an 84% reduction in the risk of dying when compared to placebo plus standard of care at 28 days. Paridiprubart represents a new class of emerging therapies called Host-Directed Therapeutics (HDTs) that are designed to modulate the body's own immune response when confronted with infectious diseases or even chemical agents. Importantly, these therapies are designed to work across multiple infectious diseases and threats, and could be stockpiled preemptively ahead of outbreaks.

Because they are threat agnostic, HDTs like paridiprubart have the potential to become standard of care in ICUs and critical countermeasures for both pandemic preparedness and biodefense.