A Study to Collect Bone Marrow for Process Development and Production of BM-MSC to Treat Severe COVID19 Pneumonitis

Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic, commonly referred to as "coronavirus", first began in the city of Wuhan, China in December 2019. This virus has since spread globally, with infections reported in nearly every country. COVID-19 targets the body's respiratory system, where infections can be found in the nose, throat and lungs. The effect of COVID-19 infection is very variable, where many people might not know that they have been infected and have recovered from COVID-19. However, COVID-19 infection can cause people to have difficulty breathing. This can be severe enough to require hospitalisation and potentially intensive care treatment. While they are being treated in hospital, COVID-19 infected patients can be found to have inflamed tissue in their lungs (referred to medically as "pneumonitis"). This inflammation is thought to be caused by their body's immune systems overacting to the infection rather than the COVID-19 virus itself. By potentially dampening down this overreaction of their immune system, it is hoped that COVID-19 patients with inflamed lungs have better and quicker chance to survive. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been shown to have anti-inflammatory and healing properties on injured tissue. MSCs have been trialled in various diseases but have not yet been tested on patients with COVID-19. In this study, the investigators will obtain bone marrow from healthy volunteers to develop a cell-based treatment for COVID-19-related pneumonitis. The investigators will also determine whether it is feasible to recruit bone marrow donors in a clinically useful timeframe to treat COVID-19 patients. A future trial, COMET20, will use the bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs) manufactured in COMET20d to treat COVID-19 patients suffering with pneumonitis, to determine whether the BMMSCs can reduce the likelihood for mechanical ventilation and reduce hospitalisation.

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