Severely ill COVID-19 patients with pneumonia who were administered the experimental oral drug opaganib, from RedHill Biopharma, needed less extra oxygen and had shorter hospital stay compared to patients who received a placebo, suggested a small randomized trial, posted on medRxiv. The trial awaits peer review. 

Within 14 days of enrollment in the study, half (50.0%) of the patients given opaganib no longer required oxygen, in comparison with 22.2% of patients in the placebo group. Around 86.4% of the patients treated with opaganib had been discharged, compared to 55.6% in the placebo group. 

The company has stated that the drug strongly inhibited the Delta variant in test tube experiments. The drug possibly exercises its antiviral effect by inhibiting sphingosine kinase-2 (SK2), a vital enzyme in cells that the virus likely recruits to replicate… (Reuters, August 30, 2021)