Akebia Therapeutics Announces Initial Findings From Investigator-Sponsored Clinical Study Evaluating Vadadustat For Prevention And Treatment Of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) In Subjects With COVID-19 And Hypoxemia (VSTAT)

 Akebia Therapeutics®, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA), a biopharmaceutical company with the purpose to better the lives of people impacted by kidney disease, today announced initial findings from an investigator-sponsored study evaluating vadadustat, Akebia’s investigational oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor (HIF-PHI), for the prevention and treatment of ARDS in clinical trial subjects with COVID-19 and hypoxemia (O2 saturation ≤94%). The VSTAT trial (Vadadustat for the Prevention and Treatment of ARDS in Hospitalized Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019) was a phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, conducted by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) in Houston, Texas and partially funded by Akebia.