Study of LAU-7b for the Treatment of COVID-19 Disease in Adults

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Subjects must exhibit symptoms (including at least one lower respiratory symptomsuch as shortness of breath or dyspnea) of COVID-19 disease at screening and/orsince the start of their hospitalization (may include treated symptoms;

2. Subjects must be 18 years and older, of either gender;

3. Subjects must have at least one of the following factors/co-morbidities:

4. Controlled or uncontrolled diabetes;

5. Pre-existing cardiovascular disease, including hypertension;

6. Pre-existing respiratory disease such as COPD, asthma, emphysema;

7. Active or a former smoker with a 20 pack-years of smoking history;

8. Obesity as depicted by body mass index ≥ 30;

9. Laboratory tests indicative of a higher risk of COVID-19-related complications,such as troponin >1.5 upper limit of normal, D-dimer >3.0 upper limit of normaland/or CRP >1.5 upper limit of normal

10. Patient aged 70 years and older who, based on the judgment of the Investigator,is at a higher risk of developing complications.

11. Subjects must have a documented positive test for the SARS-CoV-2 virus;

12. Subjects must be under observation by, or admitted to a controlled facility orhospital to receive standard-of-care for COVID-19 disease (care for COVID-19 diseaseshould be for no more than 72 hours before screening, including any prior stay inanother hospital);

13. Subject's health status must be 3 or 4 on the ordinal scale, and not previously a "5or a 6";

14. If female, must be either post-menopausal (one year or greater without menses),surgically sterile, or, for female subjects of child-bearing potential who arecapable of conception, must be: practicing a highly effective method of birthcontrol (acceptable methods include intrauterine device, complete abstinence,spermicide + barrier, male partner surgical sterilization, or hormonalcontraception) during the study and through 30 days after the last dose of the studymedication. Periodical abstinence is not classified as an effective method of birthcontrol. A pregnancy test must be negative at the Screening Visit;

15. Subjects must have the ability to understand and give informed consent, which can beverbal with a witness, according to local requirements;

16. Subjects deemed capable of adequate compliance including attending scheduled visitsfor the duration of the study;

17. Subjects must be able to swallow the study drug capsules.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Pregnancy or breastfeeding;

2. Health condition deemed to possibly interfere with the study endpoints and/or thesafety of the patients. For example, the following conditions should be consideredcontraindicated for participation in the study, but this is not an exhaustive list.In case of doubt, the Investigator should consult with the sponsor's medicalrepresentative:

3. Presence of inherited retinitis pigmentosa;

4. Presence or history of liver failure (Child-Pugh B or C);

5. Presence or history of stage 4 severe chronic kidney disease or dialysisrequirement;

6. Febrile neutropenia;

7. Presence of end-stage cancer.

8. Known history of a severe allergy or sensitivity to retinoids, or with knownallergies to excipients in the oral capsule formulation proposed to be used in thestudy;

9. Participation in another drug clinical trial within 30 days (or a minimum of 5elimination half-lives) prior to screening, except ongoing participation innon-interventional studies;

10. Calculated creatinine clearance (CrCL, using the Cockroft-Gault equation forexample) <50 ml/min;

11. Presence of total bilirubin >1.5 x ULN (in the absence of demonstrated Gilbert'ssyndrome), ALT and/or AST > 2.5 x ULN;

12. Patient expected to be transferred to ICU or die in the next 24 hours.