COVID-19 Breakthrough: An Inhaled Drug May Reduce the Risk of Complications by 79%

Synairgen a British laboratory has developed a drug that could reduce the risk of developing a serious form of the disease caused by Covid-19 by 79%.

Coronavirus Pandemic

This could revolutionize the treatment of COVID-19 patients: The British laboratory Synairgen announced on Monday that it has developed a drug capable of reducing the risk of developing the serious form of the disease caused by COVID-19 by 79%.

At the end of a study of 101 participants in 9 different British hospitals, the researchers obtained “very significant” results: This inhaled drug, christened SNG001, would double the patients’ chances of survival compared to a placebo. The 101 participants were divided into two groups: one received SNG001 and the other a placebo. Three patients in the placebo group died, while in the other study group there were no deaths.

To avoid mechanical ventilation

SNG001 is produced from interferon-beta protein, which is naturally produced by the human body in the case of a viral infection and is used as an anti-inflammatory agent in multiple sclerosis. It is believed that SNG001 relieves shortness of breath in critically ill patients and helps them breathe more easily.

“The results confirm our belief that beta interferon has enormous potential as an inhalation therapy to restore immune response in the lungs, improve protection, accelerate recovery and counteract the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” commented Professor Tom Wilkinson, Professor of Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Southampton, who led the study.

According to Professor Stephen Holgate, co-founder of Synairgen, this treatment “restores the lung’s ability to neutralize the virus and its mutations or co-infection with another respiratory virus such as influenza as can occur in winter in the event of a recurrence of COVID-19. However, these results have not been officially published in a scientific journal and therefore have not been submitted to a reading committee but reported publicly by the laboratory itself. Their interpretation, therefore, requires retrospective and caution.

A revolutionary therapeutic solution

Since the beginning of the pandemic, thousands of patients, often elderly or already suffering from a pathology (diabetes, heart, respiratory, or obesity diseases), have been admitted to intensive care units in a severe state. More than 600,000 people have died worldwide, including 140,630 in the US.

At a time when the World Health Organization (WHO) is warning of the progression of the virus and fear of a new wave is growing, reducing the risk of developing a serious form of the disease by 79% seems to be a revolutionary therapeutic solution.