BOSTON — Sensory Cloud Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced encouraging results from its Phase 2a REACH trial of SC0023, a proprietary therapeutic aerosol developed to treat refractory chronic cough (RCC). Conducted in collaboration with King Saud University, the study demonstrated meaningful reductions in cough frequency with effects persisting weeks beyond treatment.
According to trial data, daily treatment with SC0023 achieved a 53.5% reduction in 24-hour cough rate relative to baseline, compared with a 19.5% placebo effect. Reduction in cough was observed from the first day of dosing across patients with baseline cough rates ranging from 5 to 25 coughs per hour. Notably, three weeks post-treatment, cough suppression persisted, reaching an 86% reduction relative to baseline in patients at the 25 coughs per hour level.
“We are very encouraged by the REACH findings and in particular the observation of persistent treatment effect of SC0023 for several weeks post dosing,” said David A. Edwards, PhD, founder and CEO of Sensory Cloud and adjunct professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical School. “We are still exploring the dataset and will be sharing final results in a keynote presentation at RESCON in San Francisco this fall.”
Kian Fan Chung, MD, professor of respiratory medicine at Imperial College London and co-principal investigator of the trial, said the REACH study provided unprecedented depth of data for a small cohort. “REACH illustrates the analytical power of continuous cough monitoring,” he said. “With over 450 patient cough count days, the REACH trial exceeded the sample size of any previous Phase 2a or 2b trial with only 10 patients, and generating intra- and inter-subject information on the time-course of treatment that, in the case of SC0023, appears vital to understanding the effects of the therapeutic.”
Dennis Ausiello, MD, Jackson Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School and chairman of Sensory Cloud’s board, called the results significant for future RCC care. “REACH sheds new light on a unique modality of cough treatment, equally as first-line treatment for RCC and as a possible adjuvant for future RCC therapeutics that act downstream of the airway inflammation cascade targeted by SC0023,” he said.
Preliminary data from intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses showed placebo-adjusted cough rate reductions of 34% (p=0.045). Visual analog scores also improved, with decreases of up to 56 points depending on baseline cough severity. Monitoring using the Hyfe CoughMonitor watch confirmed that suppression persisted weeks after dosing, even though SC0023 ions clear from the airways within hours — consistent with the down-regulation of mechano-sensitive ion channels linked to cough hypersensitivity.
No clinically significant treatment-related adverse events were reported. Two serious adverse events were recorded but determined unrelated to SC0023.
Sensory Cloud said it is now preparing REACH2, a follow-up study to be led by Professor Chung in London later this year.
