Vapendavir Significantly Reduces Key Inflammatory Biomarkers in Rhinovirus-Challenged COPD Patients
核心洞察
Vapendavir, Altesa BioSciences (搜索)' investigational oral antiviral, significantly reduced the inflammatory biomarkers IP-10/CXCL10 (搜索) and GM-CSF in COPD (搜索) patients experimentally challenged with rhinovirus (搜索).
The Phase 2a placebo-controlled challenge study findings were presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress 2026 in Barcelona, Spain.
Results build on previously reported reductions in viral load, illness duration and severity, and improved quality of life relative to placebo.
Altesa BioSciences (搜索) announced new clinical data showing that vapendavir, its investigational oral antiviral therapy, significantly reduced critical inflammatory biomarkers in COPD (搜索) patients experiencing a rhinovirus (搜索) infection. The findings were shared in an oral presentation at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress 2026 in Barcelona, Spain, on September 8, 2026.
The presentation, titled "Inflammatory biomarkers are reduced by vapendavir treatment in rhinovirus (搜索)-challenged COPD (搜索) patients," was delivered by Dr. Sebastian Johnston, MD, PhD, FMedSci, Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Allergy at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, in a session titled "Respiratory infections: host response, complications and interventions."
Mechanistic Link Between Antiviral Activity and Airway Inflammation
In the Phase 2a challenge study, COPD (搜索) patients were experimentally challenged with rhinovirus (搜索) and treated with either vapendavir or placebo beginning after the onset of symptoms. Analysis of nasal lavage samples showed that vapendavir treatment was associated with significantly lower levels of two key inflammatory molecules — IP-10/CXCL10 (搜索) and GM-CSF — over the course of infection compared to placebo. Nasal levels of two additional biomarkers, IFN-α2a and IFN-λ1/IL-29, trended lower with vapendavir treatment but did not reach statistical significance.
"These findings help explain why patients treated with vapendavir experienced less severe illness in this study — we're seeing a measurable reduction in the inflammatory response in the airway itself, not just an effect on viral load," said Dr. Johnston, who also serves as Chief Medical Officer of VirTus Respiratory Research Ltd, the CRO that ran the study. "Rhinovirus (搜索) infections are underappreciated as a driver of COPD (搜索) exacerbations, in part because they are so rarely tested for in clinical practice. A treatment that addresses both the virus and the resulting airway inflammation could meaningfully change how we manage these patients."
Building on Prior Efficacy Findings
The reductions observed in local airway inflammation are consistent with previously reported findings presented at the ERS International Congress 2025, in which vapendavir treatment significantly reduced viral load, illness duration and severity of lower respiratory symptoms, and improved quality of life, relative to placebo.
"The data collectively support a mechanistic link between vapendavir's antiviral activity and reduced airway inflammation in COPD (搜索) patients infected with rhinovirus (搜索)," said Dr. Katharine Knobil, Altesa BioSciences (搜索)' Chief Medical Officer. "Acute COPD exacerbations are the main driver of hospitalization, lung function loss, and reduced quality of life."
Advancing to the Phase 2b CARDINAL Study
"Deepening our understanding of the underlying disease biology is critical to developing therapies that bring much-needed relief to those living with a chronic and debilitating illness, and the data from this study has given us the ability to successfully progress into the Phase 2B CARDINAL study already underway and actively enrolling patients," Dr. Knobil concluded.
The CARDINAL clinical trial is a Phase 2b multinational, randomized, placebo-controlled study in COPD (搜索) patients experiencing rhinovirus (搜索) infections that will enroll 900 people with COPD across the US and UK. Participants will be closely monitored over time and, upon confirmed rhinovirus infection, will be randomized to receive one of two doses of vapendavir or placebo. The trial's primary objective is to assess improvement in respiratory symptoms using established patient-reported outcomes, with additional endpoints evaluating time to symptom resolution, quality of life, healthcare resource utilization, and lung function.
About Vapendavir
Vapendavir is an investigational oral medicine in development by Altesa BioSciences (搜索). It demonstrated efficacy in patients with COPD (搜索) by improving symptoms, reducing duration of illness and viral load, and maintaining small airway function after rhinovirus (搜索) challenge. Vapendavir is now in late-stage clinical development and, if approved, has the potential to prevent the most common cause of COPD exacerbations, improve quality of life, and generate significant reductions in healthcare costs.