(Alliance News) - Synairgen PLC on Friday announced that its SNG001 drug showed positive results in hospitalised Covid-19 patients.
The respiratory drug discovery and development company said SNG001 was shown to be "well tolerated", and patients who received the drug had greater odds of improvement and recovered more rapidly from the coronavirus.
This comes as data from the company's trial was published in Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal on Wednesday.
The trial was placebo-controlled and assessed the efficacy and safety of the inhaled SNG001 formulation as a therapy for patients hospitalised with Covid-19.
Tom Wilkinson, author of the article in Lancet Respiratory Medicine, said: "The results confirm our belief that interferon beta, a widely known drug approved for use in its injectable form for other indications, may have the potential as an inhaled drug to restore the lung's immune response and accelerate recovery from Covid-19. This pH neutral, inhaled interferon beta-1a formulation (SNG001) provides high, local concentrations of the immune protein which boosts lung defences rather than targeting specific viral mechanisms. This might carry additional advantages of treating Covid-19 when it occurs alongside infection by another respiratory virus such as influenza or respiratory syncytial virus that may well be encountered in the winter months."
Synairgen shares were up 27% at 128.75 pence each in London on Friday morning.
By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com
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Synairgen (SNG)