14 September 2020 - - US-based Blade Therapeutics has reached the 120-subject enrollment goal for the Phase 2 clinical study of the company's investigational therapeutic, BLD-2660, in the treatment of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia, the company said.

Also, an independent Data Monitoring Committee recommended continuation of the trial without changes after conducting a planned review of blinded safety data.

BLADE-CONQUER is a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial assessing the efficacy and safety of BLD-2660 on lung function and recovery time in hospitalized patients (N=120) with pneumonia due to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

In the study, which started enrollment in May 2020, patients receive up to 10 days of therapy with BLD-2660 or matching placebo dosed orally twice daily on top of standard-of-care therapeutics, including Remdesivir.

CONQUER (COVID Study of New Drug BLD-2660 in Subjects ReQUiring Hospitalization to Evaluate Safety and Response, Clinicaltrials.gov NCT04334460) is a 28-day clinical trial with a 60-day post-study lung function assessment.

The study will measure two primary and multiple secondary outcomes in hospitalized patients with pneumonia (oxygen saturation