[Interview] Advancing Off-the-shelf Cellular Medicines to Fight COVID-19

We talked to Dr. Fred Grossman, Chief Medical Officer with Mesoblast, to learn more about the mechanism of action for the company’s proprietary cells, and new developments to test the cells in patients with COVID-19.

Andrii: Can you introduce yourself, and briefly outline your journey with Mesoblast? 

Fred: Before joining Mesoblast about nine months ago, I held senior leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry for close to 25 years at large (Lilly, J&J, BMS) and smaller (Sunovion, Glenmark) pharmaceutical companies developing and launching numerous drugs in areas of unmet medical need.  I wanted to be part of an innovative cutting-edge, scientifically-based company poised to advance treatment for the most severe inflammatory diseases.

It has been a privilege to be part of Mesoblast’s transformation and rapid growth. We are preparing for our first cell therapy product launch - RYONCIL™ (remestemcel-L) for steroid refractory acute graft versus host disease (SR aGVHD) in children - which is currently under priority review by the US FDA. SR aGVHD is associated with a high mortality rate and occurs in more than 50% of blood cancer patients following an allogeneic bone marrow transplant. This disease is a result of severe inflammation that produces a “cytokine storm”, primarily in the skin, gut and liver.  The cytokine storm in acute GVHD is similar to the mechanism responsible for COVID-19 ARDS which attacks the lungs.

Based on this and additional proof of concept, including data from a randomized controlled trial in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) that will be presented at the upcoming 2020 annual meeting of the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT), we rapidly pivoted towards expanding our pipeline to include moderate to severe COVID-19 ARDS.