Endotracheal UVA Light Treatment Significantly Reduces SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load in Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients

Data from a new study indicate that endotracheal UVA light catheter therapy reduces SARS-CoV-2 viral load and improves clinical outcomes in mechanically ventilated SARS-CoV-2 patients.

The first in-human, open label, clinical trial in SARS-CoV-2 patients conducted by Aytu BioScience, Inc. (Englewood, CO, USA) found that endotracheal UVA light treatment was associated with a significant reduction of SARS-CoV-2 viral load and improvement in WHO clinical severity scores. Additionally, the endotracheal UVA light treatment did not result in any serious adverse device effects and was well tolerated.

A total of five critically ill, mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients underwent UVA light therapy for five consecutive days. The UVA light catheter was inserted into an endotracheal tube (ETT) and illuminated for 20 minutes during each treatment. The endotracheal (ET) treatment resulted in significant logarithmic reduction of the SARS-CoV-2 viral load of the ET aspirate, which was the study's primary endpoint. Average log changes from baseline to day five and day six were -2.41 (>99%, p=0.0018) and -3.2 (>99.9%, p=0.0005), respectively. WHO clinical severity scores improved by an average of 1.6 and 3.6 points on day 15 and day 30, respectively. Excluding subject two, who had undetectable viral load, WHO clinical severity scores improved by 4.75 points on day 30. Importantly, no serious adverse device effects were observed, and no early treatment discontinuation occurred.

"We believe the Healight technology can become an important tool for fighting the global COVID-19 pandemic, and we look forward to continuing discussions with the FDA on the advancement of this technology," said Josh Disbrow, Chief Executive Officer of Aytu BioScience. "There may be additional anti-infective applications for Healight beyond COVID-19, so having this initial proof of concept data gives us a great deal of enthusiasm for the potential of this investigational device. I would like to thank the team and our collaborators for the work that went into conducting this study and generating this data."

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Aytu BioScience, Inc.