Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca rushes its blood cancer drug Calquence into coronavirus trials 'after it showed benefit for patients in intensive care'

A British-based pharmaceutical giant has revealed plans to trial a blood cancer drug on severely ill coronavirus patients after it showed promise in the US.

AstraZeneca said there was anecdotal evidence of Calquence improving the condition of ventilated and intensive care patients. 

The leukaemia drug, said to work by suppressing the virus and preventing it from scarring the lungs, will now be rushed into a large clinical trial of 400 patients.

Calquence, which is available on prescription on the NHS, was given to a small number of COVID-19 patients at the Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington.

AstraZeneca, headquartered in Cambridge, said 'clinical benefit was observed in select patients with advanced lung disease'. 

COVID-19 can kill when it sparks an aggressive immune response that inflames and scars the lungs, making it difficult to breathe.  

Calquence, generic name acalabrutinib, is known as a Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor which block the BTK protein which triggers immune responses.

By suppressing the exaggerated defense mechanism, it may prevent the virus from damaging the lungs. 

Jose Baselga, head of oncology research and development at AstraZeneca, told Forbes: 'The science of acalabrutinib and, I think more than that, of Bruton's tyrosine kinase situation, is pretty strong. The mechanism is very clear.

'The cytokine storm [immune response] that occurs in the pneumonia of these patients is heavily mediated by Bruton's kinase and, unlike approaches that are trying to deal with one cytokine at a time, I see this more as a truncal intervention, in which you are basically hitting the central key pathway that regulates many of these cytokines so the rationale is incredibly strong . . . it gives us the opportunity to address the whole problem.'

Mr Basegla said that AstraZeneca received early data about coronavirus patients recovering after taking the drugs last week.

Within 72 hours the drugs giant had drafted a COVID-19 clinical trial and submitted it to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a process which normally takes more than three months. 

The 400-patient trial will see  Calquence given to patients on ventilators and those in intensive care at risk of needing to be intubated.

Mr Basegla said the firm are still working out how to give Calquence, which comes in pill form, to patients who are on ventilators and therefore heavily sedated.

AstraZeneca is advising doctors administer the drug through a tube in a solution made up of Coca-Cola, which due to its acidity properly liquefies the powder. 

Calquence has already been given to patients in this way, the firm claims. 

It comes a week after AstraZeneca claimed it will have a reliable coronavirus antibody test ready by May.

The firm said manufacturing could be scaled up and the test rolled out by the end of that month.

Antibody tests detect substances created and stored by the immune system when someone gets ill with coronavirus. 

They could be a game changer for Britain as they can tell who has previously had the infection - sometimes without knowing - and is therefore likely immune.  

Tom Keith-Roach, AstraZeneca's UK president, said the aim is for antigen and antibody tests to be carried out by people in their own homes.

Rolling the tests out to the public is believed to be a key step in helping society return to normal as they would show who is safe to go back to work without the risk of catching or spreading COVID-19. 

Mr Keith-Roach said: 'Clinicians across the country are trying to do absolutely everything possible right now to keep patients out of the healthcare system and to deliver diagnostics of care at home - to not expose patients for unnecessary risk. That will be the principle here.'