If confirmed, treatment may revolutionize the way COVID is treated in hospitals (pictorial)
Paris:
Aerosol-based treatment could dramatically reduce the number of new coronavirus patients dying from the disease or requiring intensive care, according to preliminary results released Monday by a British biotechnology company.
In a randomized trial of 100 patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, those who received an inhaled formula of the beta interferon protein had a 79% lower risk of developing serious disease compared to those who received a placebo .
They were also more than twice as likely to make a full recovery as the control group.
The company behind the treatment, known as SNG001, said preliminary results suggested “a major breakthrough” in the pandemic.
“We are all delighted with the results of the trial announced today, which have shown that SNG001 has significantly reduced the number of COVID-19 hospital patients who have gone from the need for oxygen to the need for ventilation. ”Said Richard Marsden, CEO of Synairgen.
The results released on Monday have yet to be peer reviewed and the sample size is relatively small.
But if confirmed, the treatment could revolutionize the way COVID-19 is treated in hospitals.
“Game changer”
Interferon beta is a naturally occurring protein commonly used to treat multiple sclerosis.
It’s part of the body’s natural fight against infection, and the new coronavirus suppresses its production in an attempt to evade an immune response.
Direct administration of the protein to the lungs of patients is designed to elicit a robust immune response to the virus, even in patients whose immune systems are already weakened by infection.
“The results confirm our belief that interferon beta … has enormous potential as an inhaled drug to be able to restore the lung’s immune response,” said Tom Wilkinson, professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Southampton.
He said the trial showed SNG001 to be effective in “improving protection, speeding up recovery and countering the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.”
Naveed Sattar, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, said the new treatment “could be a game changer.”
“With small numbers (of trials), there is less certainty about the actual level of benefit, or whether the benefits vary between people with different risk characteristics,” said Sattar, who was not involved. in the search.
“Such work would require a larger trial, but even so these results are very exciting.”
There are currently a number of treatments available for hospital patients with COVID-19.
Last month, a UK-based team of researchers led by the University of Oxford announced that it had successfully reduced the risk of death in critically ill patients by administering the commonly available steroid dexamethasone.
Several countries have also issued emergency authorization for treatment with antiviral remdesivir.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
