Evgen Pharma PLC (LON:EVG) will drill down into data from an important trial of its lead asset after the study was discontinued.
SFX-01 was assessed for its potential to treat community-acquired pneumonia, including patients with suspected Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection, as part of the phase II/III STAR trial in Dundee.
The company was told by the independent data committee that an interim analysis of the results did not meet the futility hurdle required to carry on the work.
Recruitment into the trial will therefore be halted. Importantly there were no safety issues, underlining the “excellent safety profile” of SFX-01, Evgen pointed out.
Chief executive, Dr Huw Jones, said he and the team were both surprised and disappointed by the findings “given the strong preclinical hypothesis surrounding sulforaphane as an Nrf2 activator with potential direct antiviral properties”.
He added: “Following this readout, we will continue to work with the University of Dundee on full data analysis of active treatment versus placebo on disease-related endpoints and biomarkers so that we can learn from this important work.”
The trial was a double-blind, placebo-controlled investigation and data was taken from 133 patients reviewing the active treatment versus a placebo with no medical effect.