The prospective, randomized, parallel-group, open-label phase IIB study will evaluate the safety of IMU-838 in approximately 120 adult patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 symptoms at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire National Health Service Trust in the U.K. The company believes that there is a synergistic effect between direct antiviral drugs such as oseltamivir and DHODH inhibitors.

In preclinical studies IMU-838 has been shown to inhibit replication of SARS-CoV-2 with an attractive pharmacokinetic safety and tolerability profile. To date, the drug has been tested in around 650 individuals.

IMU-838 is also undergoing phase II trials in patients with COVID-19, ulcerative colitis, and relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, where top-line data is expected in the first half of August 2020.

Immunic begins phase II immunotherapy for COVID-19
Immunic has enrolled the first COVID-19 patients in a phase II clinical trial of IMU-838, a selective oral dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) inhibitor.