"The patients in this open-label study were at the highest risk of dying from COVID-19; five were on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and all were on mechanical ventilation. In addition, each patient in this study also suffered from severe comorbidities such as recent transplants, cancer, and recent heart attacks, with little hope of survival," said Prof Jonathan Javitt, MD, MPH, Chairman and CEO of NRx. "The improvement in the test group's overall respiratory distress ratio and cytokine levels add biologic credibility to the positive findings from this study and are congruent to the results seen in the Phase 2b/3 trial of aviptadil in Critical COVID-19 patients suffering respiratory failure at major tertiary care hospitals. In addition, we believe these data add important perspective to the potential for aviptadil to help some of the sickest patients with Critical COVID-19 recover and return home to their families."