A drug called SNG001 would reduce the risk of developing a severe form of Covid-19 disease by 79%, according to preliminary results released on Monday by the British laboratory that produced it, Synairgen.
This inhaled treatment uses beta interferons, a natural protein that is involved in the body's response to viruses.
A sample of only 101 patients
The study was performed on a relatively small sample of patients (101) and has not been reviewed by a reading committee, but it could revolutionize the way Covid-19 is treated. Synairgen chief executive Richard Marsden says it could be a “major step forward”.
Study with the University of Southampton finds that patients treated with this drug are 79% less likely than those who received a placebo to develop severe forms of the disease, i.e. requiring 'be placed on or die from a respirator. Patients treated with SNG001 are more than twice as likely to recover compared to those who received a placebo. Three of the patients (6%) treated with placebo died, while there were no deaths among those who were treated with SNG001.
Debate between scientists on the results
"The results confirm our belief that interferon beta (...) has enormous potential as an inhalation treatment to restore the immune response of the lungs, accelerating recovery and countering the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 virus," said Tom Wilkinson, a professor of respiratory medicine who led the trial, said in a statement.
Professor Stephen Holgate, co-founder of Synairgen, said that this treatment "restores the ability of the lungs to neutralize the virus or any mutation of the virus or co-infection with another respiratory virus such as influenza, like this could occur in the event of a resurgence of Covid-19 in winter ”.
A drug, dexamethasone, has been proven to work
"These results seem very impressive," and although the study only involves a small number of patients, they could "be a game-changer," said Professor Naveed Sattar of the University of Glasgow. Steve Goodacre, professor of emergency medicine at the University of Sheffield, believes that these results are "not interpretable" as they are, explaining that they "need full details, and perhaps more important, the test protocol ”.
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.
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