Benzinga | Aug 16, 2021 02:58PM EDT

Histogen Shares Additional Emricasan Data From COVID-19 Study

* Histogen Inc (NASDAQ:HSTO) and its partner Amerimmune LLC have announced additional findings from its Phase 1 study of emricasan in mild symptomatic COVID-19 patients.

* As previously reported, emricasan was shown to be safe and well-tolerated during the 14 days of dosing and at the day 45 follow-up, compared to placebo. No serious adverse events were reported.

* Further analysis of the laboratory and exploratory biomarkers unveiled potential mechanisms of COVID-19 and how emricasan blocks process to prevent disease progression.

* First, in the emricasan cohort, there was an increase in certain blood immune cell numbers, which play an essential role in immunity against viruses.

* Second, patients that received emricasan showed normalization of several serum markers related to increased risk for blood clotting that is typically elevated in individuals with COVID-19.

* Third, substances that leak from dying cells in the body decreased and normalized in the emricasan cohort.

* The above findings correlated with trends toward better immunity to SARS CoV2.

* Price Action: HSTO shares are down 3.35% at $0.81 during the market session on the last check Monday.