The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
I'm personally quite happy w the communication from the company.
The info shared at the AGM was clear and concise in terms of their next steps and the recent company results update built upon that with more detail.
There is a bit of new detail in the peer review.
Two points in particular stood out for me:
The explanation for the duration of symptoms: the main side effect of inf is flu like symptoms - there is also the detail of the elevated inflammatory and coagulation biomarkers, which would appear to show that the drug is "working" vs placebo - a couple extra days of coughing to avoid a trip to the ICU sounds like a good trade.
2nd is the lack of viral clearance in nasal swabs - sng001 targets the lower respiratory tract and this would effect viral load in the same, not in the nose.
With both of those seemingly negative elements explained in a (prestigious!) peer reviewed journal, we're left with 'the drug was so effective it came within a hairs breadth of statistical significance for preventing hospitalisation, even tho the study wasn't powered for these endpoints"
Excited for the next moves from the company.
Published in the Lancet. Reads well :)
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(23)00427-3/fulltext
My pleasure Jonnyboy
It's a small study but the results are quite striking - Same authors as the below however and looks to be a follow up.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36029717/
It will be interesting to see if any of the prominent anti-vaxers run with it.
This paper states the Pfizer vaccine can cause auto-abs to type 1 interferon in healthy people (circa 10%)
Sng are preparing trials where patients with auto-abs to type one interferons are targeted for treatment with SNG001, as the collective data from both in and outside the company are that these auto-ab patients are the most likely to benefit. A simple test for auto-abs on admission, technology not available before covid, is part of these planned trials.
So with quite literally billions of otherwise healthy people having had the Pfizer vax, it would appear sng001's target market just got a heck of a lot bigger.
Oh boy
COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, but not a viral vector-based vaccine, promotes neutralizing anti-type I interferon autoantibody production in a small group of healthy individuals
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jmv.29137
Jansen and presumably AZ
https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN49183956
From the full paper (pdf)
Implications for research and/or practice The current study demonstrated that it is feasible to conduct a purely virtual study in community-based patients with COVID-19, when the study included detailed daily assessments and with study medication administered via nebuliser. Future, larger, purely virtual studies are planned. The study also demonstrated that patients can be trained in the use of nebulised medication remotely, making use of video technology. This is consistent with the day-to-day work of UK-based General Practitioners, with some face-to-face consultations replaced with video- or telephone-based interactions, especially in patients who are unable to leave home (either for medical reasons or due to COVID-induced ‘lock-down’).
** Future, larger, purely virtual studies are planned. **
Hmmmm...
Published today...
https://bjgpopen.org/content/early/2023/08/16/BJGPO.2023.0089
Conclusion
This study demonstrated that it is feasible to conduct a purely virtual study in community-based patients with COVID-19, when the study included detailed daily assessments and with medication administered via nebuliser.
Https://www.cell.com/immunity/fulltext/S1074-7613(23)00275-3
Innate immunity and interferon in SARS-CoV-2 infection outcome
Ram Savan
Michael Gale Jr.
Summary
Innate immunity and the actions of type I and III interferons (IFNs) are essential for protection from SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. Each is induced in response to infection and serves to restrict viral replication and spread while directing the polarization and modulation of the adaptive immune response. Owing to the distribution of their specific receptors, type I and III IFNs, respectively, impart systemic and local actions. Therapeutic IFN has been administered to combat COVID-19 but with differential outcomes when given early or late in infection. In this perspective, we sort out the role of innate immunity and complex actions of IFNs in the context of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19. We conclude that IFNs are a beneficial component of innate immunity that has mediated natural clearance of infection in over 700 million people. Therapeutic induction of innate immunity and use of IFN should be featured in strategies to treat acute SARS-CoV-2 infection in people at risk for severe COVID-19.
It is indeed Gunto - Monday Sept 11 to be exact.
Characterisation of clinical risk factors for severity and outcome in adults hospitalised with respiratory viral infection (RVI): the UNIVERSAL study. Tommaso Morelli (Southampton, United Kingdom), Martha Purcell, Pedro Rodrigues, Sandra Aitken, Charles Roberts, Jacqueline Nutall, Tristan Clark, Anna Freeman, Tom Wilkinson
Https://rupress.org/jem/article/220/10/e20230037/276132/Type-I-interferons-drive-MAIT-cell-functions
Concluding remarks
Our data identify type I IFNs as key drivers of MAIT cell functions during pulmonary infection with K. pneumoniae. Type I IFNs act on MAIT cells controlling their activation, effector functions, and induction of a Th1/cytotoxic transcriptional program, ultimately contributing to host protection. Thus, during Klebsiella infection, MAIT cells become potent effectors by sensing inflammation independently of cognate antigen. This behavior strongly resembles that of memory CD8+ T cells, whose effector functions (Kohlmeier et al., 2010; Soudja et al., 2012) and trafficking (Sung et al., 2012) can be regulated by type I IFNs in an antigen-independent manner. The cytokine-mediated activation of MAIT cells in response to Klebsiella contrasts with the MR1-dependent activation during infection with other bacteria such as F. tularensis or L. longbeachae (Meierovics et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2018, 2019). The distinct timeframes of the infections (2 d vs. 2 wk) and the different activation/recruitment of immune cells associated with the specific pathogens may contribute to these differences. Accordingly, it is likely that the timing and (local) concentration of type I IFN delivery accompanying different infections will critically regulate subsequent MAIT cell responses. In keeping with this, IFN-β treatment of human naïve T cells induces several temporal transcriptional waves that regulate the dynamics of T cell activation and differentiation (Sumida et al., 2022). Given the abundance of MAIT cells in humans and their rapid response to inflammatory signals, we propose that type I IFNs may serve as a new molecular target to manipulate MAIT cell functions during infections
There are other potential uses...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306987722002365