A drug called SNG001 would reduce the risk of developing a severe form of Covid-19 disease by 79%, according to preliminary results released Monday by the British laboratory that produces it, Synairgen.
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This inhaled treatment uses beta interferon, a natural protein that is involved in the body's response to viruses. The study by the University of Southampton on 101 patients concludes that patients treated with this drug have a 79% less chance than those who received a placebo of developing severe forms of the disease, that is to say say requiring respirator, or fatal. Patients treated with SNG001 are more than twice as likely to recover compared to those who received a placebo.
No deaths with SNG001
Three of the patients (6%) treated with placebo died, while there were no deaths among those who were treated with SNG001. The study was performed on a relatively small sample of patients and has not been peer reviewed, but it could revolutionize the way Covid-19 is treated. According to Synairgen Managing Director Richard Marsden, this could be a “ major step forward ”.
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“ The results confirm our belief that interferon beta (...) has enormous potential as an inhalation therapy to restore the immune response of the lungs, improving protection, accelerating recovery and countering the impact of the SARS virus. -CoV-2, ”said Professor Tom Wilkinson, professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Southampton, who led the trial in a statement.
Professor Stephen Holgate, co-founder of Synairgen, for his part stressed that this treatment " restores the capacity of the lungs to neutralize the virus or any mutation of the virus or co-infection with another respiratory virus such as influenza or RSV (a common respiratory virus, editor's note), as could happen in winter in the event of a resurgence of COVID-19 ”.
So far only one drug, dexamethasone, has proven that it can save patients from Covid-19. Another treatment, the antiviral remdesivir, reduces the length of hospital stay but not mortality.