Danish Team of Researchers to Test Treatment of Critically Ill Patients Suffering from COVID-19

May 14, 2020
News release

Danish Team of Researchers to Test Treatment of Critically Ill Patients Suffering from COVID-19

The Innovation Fund Denmark has awarded DKK 3 million to test if the drug Iloprost can improve survival rates in SARS-Co-V2 infected patients in need of respiratory treatment. The study will be conducted in a partnership between leading hospitals in the Capital Region of Denmark and BioPorto A/S, a Danish diagnostics company.

More than half of all COVID-19 patients on life support and in intensive care will not survive the disease. The primary cause of mortality in this population is Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Research by Professor Pär I Johansson from the Clinical Immunology Department at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark, points to damage to the capillaries, leading to reduced blood flow and oxygen deprivation to central organs, as the culprit.

A team of Danish researchers has discovered that treatment with Iloprost (prostacyclin) – a drug used to treat certain kinds of pulmonary arterial hypertension – can potentially reduce damage to the capillaries and counteract ARDS to increase survival rates in COVID-19 patients. The research group is initiating a trial study of Iloprost in COVID-19 patients with ARDS who are receiving respiratory therapy.

Partnership among leading experts

The research group has received DKK 3 million to finance a 12-month randomized pilot study called COMBAT COVID-19 from The Innovation Fund Denmark’s Grand Solutions program. The intention of the study is to compare the efficacy of Iloprost to placebo in a group of 80 patients.

The biomarker thrombomodulin, a marker of capillary damage, will be used to identify and enroll patients with severe capillary injury into the study. The COMBAT COVID-19 study will be conducted in a cooperative arrangement between the Clinical Immunology Department and the intensive care units at Rigshospitalet, the Hospital of North Zealand, Bispebjerg Hospital, Herlev Hospital and Hvidovre hospital – all from the Capital Region of Denmark –  and the Danish diagnostics company, BioPorto A/S, which has developed the thrombomodulin test.

For more information, please contact:

Jan Kuhlmann, COO – BioPorto A/S (+ 45 53 80 00 38)
Pär I Johansson, Professor at Institute for Clinical Medicine, Copenhagen University (+ 45 35 45 20 30)

About BioPorto

BioPorto is an in vitro diagnostics company that provides tests and antibodies to clinicians and researchers around the world. We use our antibody and assay expertise to transform novel research tools into clinically actionable biomarkers that can make a difference in patients’ lives. BioPorto is headquartered in Hellerup, Denmark and is listed on the NASDAQ Copenhagen stock exchange [CPH:BIOPOR].

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