28 May 2020 - - US-based Aerpio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARPO) has agreed to a partnership with US-based Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative to evaluate razuprotafib in the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome in adult patients with moderate to severe COVID-19, the company said.

Razuprotafib will be used to evaluate the I-SPY COVID trial.

Approximately 10-15% of those infected with the highly contagious SARS-CoV2 virus, the cause of COVID-19, develop ARDS with a death rate in the 2-10% range.

Nearly 70% of COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU require ventilation for a mean of 14 days, and over 50% will not survive. The unprecedented rate of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection, over 5.6 m world-wide, has already led to more than 350,000 deaths.

The goal of the I-SPY COVID Trial is to rapidly screen multiple promising agents, in the setting of an adaptive platform trial, for the treatment of critically ill COVID-19 patients to identify agents that will have a high impact on reducing mortality, and the need for as well as duration of, mechanical ventilation.

Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative is a 501c(3) charitable organisation established in 2005 as a collaboration between medical researchers at University of California, San Francisco and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

Aerpio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focussed on developing compounds that activate Tie2 to treat ocular diseases and diabetic complications.