Interferon Lambda for Immediate Antiviral Therapy at Diagnosis in COVID-19

Summary

Interferon lambda is one of the main arms of the innate antiviral immune response and is critical for controlling respiratory viral infections in mice. Interferon lambda has a better side effect profile than other interferons because of the limited tissue distribution of its receptor. Peginterferon lambda is a long-acting form that has been studied extensively in human trials in viral hepatitis, confirming its safety. We propose to evaluate peginterferon-lambda in ambulatory and hospitalized patients with mild to moderate COVID-19.

Timeline

Start

2020-05-13

Primary completion

2022-08-19

Completion

2022-12-08

Outcome

Met primary endpoint

paper more likely to have undetectable virus by day 7 than were those in the placebo group PMID 33556319 ↗

paper p=0·029). PMID 33556319 ↗

Publications

• Feld JJ, Kandel C, Biondi MJ, Kozak RA, Zahoor MA, Lemieux C, Borgia SM, Boggild AK, Powis J, McCready J, Tan DHS, Chan T, Coburn B, Kumar D, Humar A, Chan A, O'Neil B, Noureldin S, Booth J, Hong R, Smookler D, Aleyadeh W, Patel A, Barber B, Casey J, Hiebert R, Mistry H, Choong I, Hislop C, Santer DM, Lorne Tyrrell D, Glenn JS, Gehring AJ, Janssen HLA, Hansen BE. Peginterferon lambda for the treatment of outpatients with COVID-19: a phase 2, placebo-controlled randomised trial. Lancet Respir Med. 2021 May;9(5):498-510. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30566-X. Epub 2021 Feb 5.
• Lee JS, Shin EC. The type I interferon response in COVID-19: implications for treatment. Nat Rev Immunol. 2020 Oct;20(10):585-586. doi: 10.1038/s41577-020-00429-3.
• Moschen AR. IBD in the time of corona - vigilance for immune-mediated diseases. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020 Sep;17(9):529-530. doi: 10.1038/s41575-020-0333-5.

Drugs

Evaluation	Drug	Modality	Dose	Route
Subject	Peginterferon Lambda-1a	Protein / enzyme biologic	180 ug	Subcutaneous

Indications