Covid-19: a drug would reduce the risk of developing a severe form by 79%

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

At the end of a study carried out on 101 participants in 9 different British hospitals, the researchers would have obtained “very significant” results: bAdapted to SNG001, this inhaled drug would double the chances of survival for patients 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 no deaths were reported in the other study group.

To avoid respiratory support

Made from the protein interferon beta, naturally produced by the human body when it contracts a viral infection and used as As an anti-inflammatory treatment for multiple sclerosis, SNG001 would reduce shortness of breath in severe patients and relieve them of respiratory assistance.

“The results confirm our belief that interferon beta (…) has enormous potential as an inhalation therapy to restore the immune response of the lungs, enhancing protection, accelerating recovery and counteracting the impact of the SARS virus. -CoV-2,” commented Professor Tom Wilkinson, professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Southampton, who led the trial.

According to Prof. Stephen Holgate, co-founder of Synairgen, 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 or RSV (a common respiratory virus , Editor’s note), as could happen in winter in the event of a resurgence of Covid-19”. Nevertheless, these results have not been officially published in a scientific journal and therefore not subject to a peer review, but publicly communicated by the laboratory himself. Their interpretation therefore requires hindsight and caution.

A revolutionary therapeutic solution

Thousands of patients, often elderly or already suffering from a pathology (diabetes, cardiac, respiratory or obese disorders) have been placed in intensive care in serious condition since the start of the pandemic. More than 600,000 people have died worldwide, including 30,000 in France.

As the World Health Organization (WHO) warns of the progression of the virus and the fear of a new wave is increasingly felt, a 79% reduction in the risk of developing a severe form of the disease appears as a revolutionary therapeutic solution.