---
title: "BARDA Awards $117 Million for First Clinical Trial for New ARDS Treatments"
description: "CBRNe World provides those tasked with defending against CBRN and IED threats with the essential practical, scientific and political information. Access the current and previous issues of the magazine by registering as a member."
url: "https://cbrneworld.com/news/subscribers/barda-awards-117-million-for-first-clinical-trial-for-new-ards-treatments"
date: "2026-07-30T21:55:01+00:00"
language: "en-GB"
---

#  BARDA Awards $117 Million for First Clinical Trial for New ARDS Treatments

 Written by Zoe Rutherford on 10 January 2024.

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), announced a $117 million contract to simultaneously evaluate three novel therapeutics to treat hospitalized adult patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) for the first time. Under the contract, PPD Development, LP, (the PPD clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.) will implement this BARDA-sponsored phase 2 platform clinical trial.

ARDS is a life-threatening lung condition with multiple causes, including severe pneumonia and sepsis due to bacterial and viral infections such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2, that leads to high rates of death among hospitalized patients. Currently, no approved or licensed therapeutics are available to treat ARDS.

“Efficient development of novel medical products requires innovative clinical trial approaches,” said BARDA Director Gary Disbrow, Ph.D. “BARDA is building on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic to advance the development of ARDS treatment and establish a strong clinical trial platform that can be used to evaluate medical products in the future.”

Under this contract, the PPD clinical research business will implement a large phase 2 clinical trial over three years. The clinical trial – a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter phase 2 platform clinical trial – will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the three host-directed therapeutics at up to 60 U.S. sites, enrolling 600 hospitalized adult patients with ARDS. The drug candidates in the study will be announced in early 2024.

The study will collect extensive clinical outcomes and biomarkers — objective measures that capture what is happening in a cell or an organ at a given moment — to define subsets of patients with ARDS who may benefit from specific host-directed therapeutics. This data will inform the design of phase 3 studies and identify a patient subpopulation most likely to benefit from each of the three drug candidates. The study has the potential to lead to better study outcomes in future trials and potential U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of one or more of the therapeutics.

Based on the results of this phase 2 clinical trial, BARDA may support follow-on work for promising therapeutic candidates under the [BARDA Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)](https://www.medicalcountermeasures.gov/barda/barda-baa/ "BAA") Area of Interest (AOI) 9.2 Immune Modulators or Therapeutics Promoting Lung Repair. Additional information about this clinical trial design can be found in the [Draft Protocol Synopsis](https://sam.gov/api/prod/opps/v3/opportunities/resources/files/75f37d600b8f4282a26e45eab567db9f/download?&token= "Draft Protocol Synopsis").

To learn more about BARDA’s portfolio of novel therapeutics in development to treat or prevent pandemic influenza and ARDS, visit the [Influenza & Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Therapeutics Program page](https://www.medicalcountermeasures.gov/barda/influenza-and-emerging-infectious-diseases/therapeutics "(EID) Therapeutics Program").

 [Medical Countermeasure](https://cbrneworld.com/component/tags/tag/medical-countermeasure)

## Schema

```json
{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "News", "item": "https://cbrneworld.com/news" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Subscribers", "item": "https://cbrneworld.com/news/subscribers" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "BARDA Awards $117 Million for First Clinical Trial for New ARDS Treatments", "item": "https://cbrneworld.com/news/subscribers/barda-awards-117-million-for-first-clinical-trial-for-new-ards-treatments" } ] }
```

```json
{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "NewsArticle", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://cbrneworld.com/news/subscribers/barda-awards-117-million-for-first-clinical-trial-for-new-ards-treatments" }, "headline": "BARDA Awards $117 Million for First Clinical Trial for New ARDS Treatments", "description": "The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), announced a $117 million contract to simultaneously evaluate three novel therapeutics to treat hospitalized adult patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) for the first time. Under the contract, PPD Development, LP, (the PPD clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.) will implement this BARDA-sponsored phase 2 platform clinical trial. ARDS is a life-threatening lung condition with multiple causes, including severe pneumonia and sepsis due to bacterial and viral infections such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2, that leads to high rates of death among hospitalized patients. Currently, no approved or licensed therapeutics are available to treat ARDS. “Efficient development of novel medical products requires innovative clinical trial approaches,” said BARDA Director Gary Disbrow, Ph.D. “BARDA is building on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic to advance the development of ARDS treatment and establish a strong clinical trial platform that can be used to evaluate medical products in the future.” Under this contract, the PPD clinical research business will implement a large phase 2 clinical trial over three years. The clinical trial – a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter phase 2 platform clinical trial – will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the three host-directed therapeutics at up to 60 U.S. sites, enrolling 600 hospitalized adult patients with ARDS. The drug candidates in the study will be announced in early 2024. The study will collect extensive clinical outcomes and biomarkers — objective measures that capture what is happening in a cell or an organ at a given moment — to define subsets of patients with ARDS who may benefit from specific host-directed therapeutics. This data will inform the design of phase 3 studies and identify a patient subpopulation most likely to benefit from each of the three drug candidates. The study has the potential to lead to better study outcomes in future trials and potential U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of one or more of the therapeutics. Based on the results of this phase 2 clinical trial, BARDA may support follow-on work for promising therapeutic candidates under the BARDA Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Area of Interest (AOI) 9.2 Immune Modulators or Therapeutics Promoting Lung Repair. Additional information about this clinical trial design can be found in the Draft Protocol Synopsis. To learn more about BARDA’s portfolio of novel therapeutics in development to treat or prevent pandemic influenza and ARDS, visit the Influenza & Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Therapeutics Program page.", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://cbrneworld.com/" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "CBRNe World Magazine", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://cbrneworld.com/images/default/Asset%201.png" } }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Zoe Rutherford", "url": "https://cbrneworld.com/news/subscribers/barda-awards-117-million-for-first-clinical-trial-for-new-ards-treatments" }, "datePublished": "2024-01-10T13:31:06+00:00", "dateCreated": "2024-01-10T13:31:06+00:00", "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:31:06+00:00" }
```