NEW DELHI: A British biotech company on Monday claimed that its respiratory drug remarkably improved clinical outcomes in hospitalised Covid-19 patients and reduced their chances of slipping to severe stage of the disease by 79%.
Though it’s a small study involving only 101 patients and results of the trial are yet to be published in a peer reviewed scientific journal, Synairgen, the company, said the results related to the drug SNG001 could signal a “major breakthrough.”
As per a statement released by the firm, founded by academics from the University of Southampton in the UK, patients who received SNG001 at nine trial sites saw their risk of requiring ventilation or dying reduce by 79% compared to those who received a placebo. The drug works by administering high concentrations of interferon beta, a naturally occurring antiviral protein, in order to restore the lung’s defence against the virus.
On the safety side, it was seen that three patients in the placebo arm succumbed to infection, but there were no deaths among those given SNG001.
“We are all delighted with the trial results announced today, which showed that SNG001 greatly reduced the number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients who progressed from ‘requiring oxygen’ to ‘requiring ventilation,” Richard Marsden, CEO of Synairgen said in a statement.
He added that the drug has significantly reduced breathlessness, one of the main symptoms of severe Covid-19.