Humanigen Isn’t Throwing In The Towel On Lenzilumab For COVID-19 Just Yet

Jul 13 2022

• By Alaric DeArment

Listen to this article

The company is assessing a potential path forward in COVID-19 for the drug and is in talks with platform study groups after a Phase III study did not show statistical significance, but still showed activity.

Humanigen announced preliminary results of a Phase III study of lenzilumab in COVID-19 • Source: Shutterstock

The mostly negative result of a Phase III trial of Humanigen, Inc.’s anti-granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) drug lenzilumab in cytokine storm associated with COVID-19 came as a surprise, but the company isn’t quite ready to give up on it. And other cytokine storm COVID-19 treatments, namely Roche Holding AG’s Actemra (tocilizumab), had failed trials before succeeding.

Humanigen said 12 July that preliminary data from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases-sponsored ACTIV-5/BET-B trial testing lenzilumab...

More from COVID-19

New COVID-19 Vaccines Shipping Soon, After Rapid Pivot To Address New Strain
Aug 22 2024
• By Alaric DeArment
Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna rapidly adapted Comirnaty and Spikevax for the 2024-2025 season to address the KP.2 variant after the US FDA had advised them to target JN.1 in June.
Pfizer/BioNTech Combo Vaccine Shows Partial Flu Efficacy
Aug 16 2024
• By Alaric DeArment
The companies said their combination mRNA vaccine showed protection against SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A, but not influenza B.
AstraZeneca Moves To Join Invyvid In COVID-19 Prevention
Jul 04 2024
• By Elizabeth Cairns
The UK giant’s COVID-19 prophylactic sipavibart could soon reach Europe and competition is sparse.
Stock Watch: Thoroughly Moderna Missteps
Jun 18 2024
• By Andy Smith
When life hands a biotech company the equivalent of good grapes, the expectations are for its products to be the equivalent of fine wine. Before that Moderna looks likely to make lemonade.

More from Scrip

EHA: Lilly’s Jaypirca Posts First Phase III Triplet Win In CLL While BTK Degraders Advance
Jul 15 2026
Lilly's first Phase III triplet win opens the door to a label expansion in BTK-pretreated CLL, with analysts suggesting Jaypica could attain blockbuster status. However, the window to capitalize may be brief as next-generation BTK degraders close in with head-to-head trials.
EHA: Lilly’s Jaypirca Posts First Phase III Triplet Win In CLL While BTK Degraders Advance - Clone
Jun 18 2026
Lilly's first Phase III triplet win opens the door to a label expansion in BTK-pretreated CLL, with analysts suggesting Jaypica could attain blockbuster status. However, the window to capitalize may be brief as next-generation BTK degraders close in with head-to-head trials.
Finance Watch: Biopharma IPOs On The Upswing, Including Ex-US Offerings
Jun 17 2026
ghghghghghjhjhjhj