Cynata Receives Ethics Approval to Commence Clinical Trial in COVID-19

What's happened?

Cynata Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:CYP "Cynata") has received ethics committee approval to commence a clinical trial to investigate early efficacy of Cynata’s proprietary Cymerus™ mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in adults admitted to intensive care with COVID-19.

What are the key highlights?

1. Compromised lung function, which can ultimately progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), is a major complication in COVID-19 patients.
2. This trial will build on Cynata’s strong pre-clinical study results in ARDS, sepsis and cytokine release syndrome, all of which are common hallmarks of severe COVID-19 cases.
3. The MEND trial is an open-label, randomised controlled clinical trial to investigate early efficacy of Cymerus MSCs.
4. The MEND Trial is to be conducted at centres in New South Wales in collaboration with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute and investigators from the COVID-19 Stem Cell Treatment (CSCT) Group.