Benzinga | Dec 13, 2020 04:27PM EST

Amarin Reported Encouraging Efficacy and Safety Results from Pilot Study Treating COVID-19 Infected Outpatients with VASCEPA in Late Breaker Presentation at NLA Scientific Sessions 2020

Amarin Corporation plc (NASDAQ:AMRN) today announced the presentation of clinical results from the CardioLink-9 Trial, the first results of a study of VASCEPA® (icosapent ethyl) in COVID-19 infected outpatients. The presentation, "First Human Trial of a Loading Dose of Icosapent Ethyl in Patients with COVID-19: Primary Results of the VASCEPA COVID-19 CardioLink-9 Randomized Trial", was made virtually as a Late Breaker at the National Lipid Association (NLA) Scientific Sessions 2020, and was presented on behalf of all authors by Deepak L. Bhatt, M.D., M.P.H., Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

"In the current environment, most COVID-19 positive patients remain outside of the clinical setting, following the advice of their doctor to stay home and quarantine unless absolutely necessary to enter the hospital," commented Subodh Verma, M.D., Ph.D., FRCSC, Professor and Cardiac Surgeon at University of Toronto and co-principal investigator of COVID-19 CardioLink-9 and the encouraging results of this pilot study. "The large and significant improvement in patient-reported symptoms may provide a safe, well-tolerated, and relatively inexpensive option to impact upon COVID-19-related morbidity. The reduction in markers of inflammation with icosapent ethyl is also important given what we know about the pathobiology of COVID-19."

The VASCEPA COVID-19 CardioLink-9 Trial was a randomized, open-label trial enrolling 100 SARS-CoV-2 positive and symptomatic outpatients displaying at least one of the following: fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, myalgia. Patients in the VASCEPA arm received a loading dose of 8 g/day for 3 days followed by 4 g/day for 11 days on top of usual care. Patients randomized to the non-active arm received usual care. Baseline characteristics were comparable between groups.

The primary biomarker endpoint of the study was within-group changes in high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), a measure of inflammation. Within-group changes in D-dimer were also examined. VASCEPA administration resulted in a 25% reduction in hsCRP (p=0.011) as well as a reduction in D-dimer (p=0.048).

In addition to these biomarker changes, assessment was made of COVID-19 symptom changes from baseline to 14 days in the influenza patient-reported outcome (FLU-PRO) score, a validated patient-reported outcome measure designed to evaluate the presence, severity and duration of flu symptoms in clinical trials. VASCEPA administration resulted in a significant 52% reduction of the total FLU-PRO prevalence score as compared to a 24% reduction in the usual care group (p=0.003 between groups), with reductions across individual score domains, including a significantly larger reduction compared to usual care in the body/systemic domain (54% vs. 26%; p=0.003). Significant reductions in the FLU-PRO symptom score compared to usual care were also observed in the total symptom score (p=0.003), as well as in the body/systemic (p=0.0007) and chest/respiratory (p=0.01) domains.

VASCEPA CardioLink-9 Study is an investigator-initiated study supported by Amarin and by HLS Therapeutics, Inc. The principal investigators of the study were Subodh Verma, M.D., Ph.D., FRCSC, Professor and Cardiac Surgeon at University of Toronto and Deepak L. Bhatt, M.D., M.P.H., Executive Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Limitations of this study include the modest sample size, the unblinded nature of this randomized trial, and that the trial was not powered for clinical events. These results have not yet been published or reviewed by regulatory authorities. Additional study is needed.

This randomized trial represents the first human experience with an 8 g/day loading dose of icosapent ethyl and has suggested short-term safety and tolerability in a modest sample size. Regarding COVID-19, this study provides the first evidence of potential early anti-inflammatory effect of icosapent ethyl in symptomatic, COVID-19 positive outpatients.

Amarin added that the VASCEPA COVID-19 CardioLink-9 trial is the first in a series of ongoing investigator-sponsored studies into the potential role of VASCEPA therapy in COVID-19 settings. Other ongoing trials include PREPARE-IT: Prevention of COVID19 With EPA in Healthcare Providers at Risk - Intervention Trial sponsored by Estudios Clnicos Latino Amrica, and A Pragmatic Randomized Trial of Icosapent Ethyl for High-Cardiovascular Risk Adults (MITIGATE) sponsored by Kaiser Permanente.

This presentation of CardioLink-9 study results was one of multiple data presentations at the NLA Scientific Sessions supported by Amarin. Additional information on NLA Scientific Sessions 2020 can be found here.