CTI BioPharma's COVID-19 Candidate Misses Primary Endpoint Mark In Phase 2 Trial

CTI BioPharma Corp CTIC has announced topline results from the PRE-VENT trial of pacritinib in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
The final PRE-VENT analysis was conducted following the randomization of 200 patients.
Pacritinib/standard of care, compared to placebo/standard of care, failed to statistically improve in the primary endpoint invasive mechanical ventilation or death by Day 28 (26.3% vs. 24.8%).
The study was recently amended to a Phase 2 design due to the availability of COVID-19 vaccines and an evolving COVID-19 environment.
Pacritinib was generally well-tolerated by patients with severe COVID-19, with lower rates of severe and adverse events reported in patients treated with pacritinib/standard of care compared to placebo/standard of care (29.2% vs. 40.6% and 20.8% vs. 32.7%, respectively).
The Company expects to publish a full report on the study in a medical journal.
Price Action: CTIC stock is down 2.27% at $2.79 during the market session on the last check Monday.