Enlivex Therapeutics Announces Plan for Increased Production Capacity of AllocetraTM in Preparation for Potential Treatment of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Patients with Organ Failure

About this update from Enlivex Ltd.

[{"type":"text","content":"Nes-Ziona, Israel, Feb. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enlivex Therapeutics Ltd. (Nasdaq: ENLV), a clinical-stage immunotherapy company, today announced that it is initiating a plan to increase its manufacturing capacity of AllocetraTM, following the first confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) case in Israel, in preparation for potential requests for treatment of coronavirus (COVID-19) patients who are hospitalized with diagnosed organ dysfunctions or failures related to coronavirus. \n AllocetraTM is an experimental therapy being investigated for treatment of patients with organ failure associated with sepsis, a syndrome whose lethal pathophysiology – cytokine storm followed by organ failure – is similar to that of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Sepsis is the 3rd leading cause of mortality in the United States. One of every three patients who die in U.S. hospitals dies from sepsis. Organ failure resulting from sepsis, as well as in coronavirus (COVID-19), is considered the result of an exaggerated response of the immune system (”cytokine storm”) in the human body to an infection by a virus or a bacteria. This exaggerated immune response results in organ damage. The immune attacks typically occur in vital organs such as lungs, heart, kidney and liver. When the organs become distressed, they begin to slowly dysfunction, which can result in organ failure, multiple organ failure, and mortality. Mortality rates from sepsis vary upon the degree of organ failure with which the patient arrived at the hospital. The literature describes an average of 20-40% mortality within 28-90 days for sepsis patients admitted to the ICU in a state of organ failure. Similarly, a cytokine storm was recently reported in patients with COVID-19 that were hospitalized in the ICU, (Huang et al. www.thelancet.com Published online January 24, 2020 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30183-5) and patients admitted to ICU had higher plasma levels of cytokines and chemokines. There is no currently approved treatment for sepsis or for complicated corona virus infections. Enlivex recently announced the interim results from its first clinical trial in patients with sepsis. When compared with matched historical controls with sepsis from the same hospital, there were clear differences in (i) mortality -- none of the six Allocetra-treated patients died, vs 29% mortality in 28...

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