Findings from a phase IIb trial presented at the CHEST annual meeting suggest an inhaled exosome-based therapy may speed recovery from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The drug, EXO-CD24, was tested in 90 patients randomly assigned to receive the nebulized treatment or a saline placebo.
Results showed 85% of treated patients were free of respiratory failure at day 7 versus 33.3% of placebo patients. Hospital stays were shorter (6.5 vs 14.4 days), and mortality was lower at day 28 (6.7% vs 30%) and at 6 months (13.3% vs 43.3%). The treatment was well tolerated.
The therapy uses exosomes engineered to carry CD24, a protein that regulates inflammation while preserving pathogen recognition. The developer, Nano24, plans a larger international phase III trial. An outside expert called the results promising but noted that effective ARDS medications have been scarce.