Coronavirus ‘breakthrough’ as inhaled drug treatment slashes ICU admissions by 79%
Coronavirus ‘breakthrough’ as inhaled drug treatment slashes the number of infected patients needing intensive care by 79%
- Drug – known as SNG001 – trialled on 100 hospitalised Covid-19 patients in UK
- Uses a protein called interferon beta which body produces to fight off viruses
- Inhaled directly into the lungs using a nebuliser to boost immune response
By Connor Boyd Health Reporter For Mailonline
Published: 06:00 EDT, 20 July 2020 | Updated: 07:12 EDT, 20 July 2020
Scientists believe they have found an inhaler (pictured) that blocks coronavirus from progressing in the lungs
An inhaled drug cuts the risk of Covid-19 patients falling seriously ill with the life-threatening infection, according to scientists trialling the experimental treatment.
Initial results from the trial of more than 100 hospitalised Covid-19 patients found it prevented 79 per cent of them from needing intensive care, suggesting it stops the disease in its tracks.
The treatment also slashed the average time patients spent in hospital by a third, down from an average of nine days to just six.
The drug — known as SNG001 — uses a protein called interferon beta which the body produces when it fights a viral infection.
It has been developed by Southampton-based pharmaceutical firm Synairgen and trialled by researchers from the city’s university.
The treatment sees patients inhale the drug directly into the lungs using a nebuliser, where it helps the immune system fight off viral infection.
The preliminary results from the trial haven’t yet been verified because the research hasn’t been published in a scientific journal or scrutinised by other scientists.
But independent experts say it would ‘represent by far the biggest breakthrough in Covid-19 treatment to date’ if the results are verified.
The only drug scientifically proven to treat the disease at present is a £5 steroid known as dexamethasone, which slashes death rates by up to a third.
Kaye Flitney is one of the 101 people enrolled in the clinical trial carried out by British pharmaceutical firm Synairgen
Southampton-based Synairgen is a publicly traded firm, meaning it was obligated to release the preliminary results due to stock market rules.
The trial involved 101 Covid-19 patients who had been admitted at nine UK hospitals and required oxygen support. Half of the recruits were given the drug, while the rest took a placebo.
The trial was carried out on a double blind basis, meaning neither the researchers nor the 101 patients knew who was receiving SNG001.
BORIS JOHNSON SAYS HE IS NOT CONFIDENT BRITAIN WILL GET A COVID-19 VACCINE BY THE END OF 2021
Boris Johnson said there may not even be a Covid-19 vaccine ready by the end of next year and that we ‘can’t count in it riding over the hill like the cavalry’.
Speaking in a television interview this morning the Prime Minister said he has his ‘fingers crossed’ but couldn’t be 100 per cent confident that a vaccine will be found.
The British public must keep following social distancing, washing their hands and wearing masks in confined spaces, Mr Johnson said, to ‘drive the virus down by our own collective action’.
His comments come as officials today announced deals with two foreign pharmaceutical firms to buy 90million doses of separate experimental vaccine candidates.
UK officials are now taking a spread-betting approach to vaccines, buying up stocks of various untested ones that they think could work, in the hope that one or more of them will pay off.
Agreement has been reached for 30million doses from German firm BioNTech and the US company Pfizer, and 60million doses from France’s Valneva.
The figure is in addition to the 100million doses of vaccine that are being developed by Oxford University in partnership with AstraZeneca, as well as another at Imperial College London which started human trials in June.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma said the new agreements would ‘ensure the UK has the best chance possible of securing a vaccine that protects those most at risk’.
But the government’s vaccine tsar today scuppered hopes of Oxford’s vaccine — one of the front-runners in the world’s race against time for a jab — being ready for September.
Oxford scientists have already said they are ’80 per cent’ confident they can have their jab available for the autumn.
Kate Bingham, chair of the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce, revealed she was still ‘hopeful’ it would be ready by the end of 2020 but admitted that academics are unlikely to get enough data to prove it works until the end of the year.
Results of the first wave of trials of the Oxford jab — called AZD1222 — are set to be published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet today. But the results will not prove it can save lives, meaning it won’t be licensed and rolled-out yet.
It found the risk of developing severe disease — needing ventilation or dying — was reduced by 79 per cent in those receiving the drug compared to the control group.
Three people died after being randomly assigned the placebo, while there were no deaths among those who received the drug, Synairgen said.
Studies have shown key high risk groups for Covid-19, including older people and those with some chronic diseases have lower levels of interferon beta.
Separate trials in asthmatic patients have shown SNG001 is well-tolerated, boosts the lungs anti-viral defences and helps lung function during cold or flu infection.
The inhaler turns SNG001 into a fine mist so it can be inhaled deep into the lungs, with the hope it will trigger a stronger, more targeted anti-viral response.
Interferon beta is already used as an injection to boost the immune response of people with multiple sclerosis.
The trial’s chief investigator, Tom Wilkinson, professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Southampton, said if the results are replicated in larger studies it will be ‘a game changer’.
He added: ‘The results confirm our belief that interferon beta, a widely known drug that, by injection, has been approved for use in a number of other indications, has huge potential as an inhaled drug to be able to restore the lungs’ immune response, enhancing protection, accelerating recovery and countering the impact of Sars-CoV-2 virus.’
Stephen Holgate CBE, professor of immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton, said recognising that the coronavirus ‘is known to have evolved to evade the initial anti-viral response of the lung’ was a valuable insight.
‘Our treatment of giving high local concentrations of interferon beta, a naturally occurring antiviral protein, restores the lungs ability to neutralise the virus,’ added Professor Holgate, who is also the co-founder of Synairgen.
He said it would work on ‘any mutation of the virus or co-infection with another respiratory virus such as RSV or influenza, as could be encountered in the winter if there is a resurgence of Covid-19’.
Reacting to the findings, Professor Francois Balloux, a geneticist at University College London, tweeted: ‘Preliminary results from a clinical trial suggest interferon beta reduces the risk of developing severe #COVID19 disease by 79 per cent.
‘If confirmed, this would represent by far the biggest breakthrough in #COVID19 treatment to date.’
Naveed Sattar, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, added: ‘The results seem very impressive, and although accepted that the trial is small with just over 100 participants, a 79 per cent reduction in disease severity could be a game changer.
‘It would be good to see the full results once presented and peer-reviewed to make sure they are robust and the trial conduct was rigorous.
‘Also, with small numbers comes less certainty on the true level of benefit, or whether benefits vary between people with differing risk characteristics. Such work would require a larger trial but, even so, these results are very exciting.’
But Professor Steve Goodacre, an expert in emergency medicine at the University of Sheffield, said: ‘These results are not interpretable.
‘We need the full details and, perhaps more importantly, the trial protocol. The trial should have been registered and a protocol made available before any analysis was undertaken.’
Synairgen will now have to present its findings to medical regulators around the world before it is approved.
Health chiefs will review the findings and decide whether to approve the treatment so doctors can treat Covid-19 patients with it.
The firm’s chief executive Richard Marsden told the BBC it would be able to deliver a ‘few hundred thousands’ of doses each month by the winter.
Because the study was quite small — only involving 100 patients — the trial may have to be scaled up before getting approval.
This process could take months, although governments around the world might be open to fast-tracking the drug if they are impressed by the findings.
British ministers have approved the Ebola drug remdesivir for emergency use on patients suffering life-threatening symptoms of Covid — despite evidence about its effectiveness still being mixed.
Only one drug, the £5 steroid dexamethasone, has so far been conclusively proven to treat coronavirus.
The Recovery trial found it reduced the risk of death by 35 per cent for patients on ventilators — the most dangerously ill — and by a fifth for all patients needing oxygen at any point.
WHAT ARE THE MOST PROMISING COVID-19 DRUGS AND TREATMENTS?
SNG001
SNG001 uses a protein called interferon beta, which our bodies produce during a viral infection.
It is inhaled directly into the lungs using an inhaler, with the hope it will trigger a stronger, more targeted anti-viral response.
The drug was developed by Southampton-based pharmaceutical firm Synairgen and trialled by researchers from the city’s university.
Preliminary results from a trial of more than 100 hospitalised Covid-19 patients found it prevented 79 per cent of people from needing intensive care.
The treatment also slashed the average time patients spent in hospital by a third, down from an average of nine days to just six.
Dexamethasone
The £5 steroid is the only drug scientifically proven to treat Covid-19.
It is a type of anti-inflammatory medicine given as either an injection or once-a-day tablet.
Oxford University scientists found it saved the lives of up to 35 per cent of patients relying on ventilators – the most dangerously ill – and reduced the odds of death by a fifth for all patients needing oxygen at any point.
The results came from the RECOVERY trial – the world’s largest investigation of promising Covid-19 therapies.
Researchers say the steroid prevents the release of substances in the body that cause inflammation, a nasty Covid-19 complication that makes breathing difficult. In seriously unwell patients, the lungs become so inflamed they struggle to work.
Remdesivir
Remdesivir was developed by Gilead Sciences to treat Ebola.
Trials produced encouraging results earlier this year when it showed promise for both preventing and treating MERS – another coronavirus – in macaque monkeys.
Studies on humans have produced mixed results.
In a US government-led study, remdesivir shortened recovery time by 31 per cent — 11 days on average versus 15 days for those given just usual care.
But it had not improved survival according to preliminary results after two weeks of followup. Results after four weeks are expected soon.
The drug appears to help stop the replication of viruses like coronavirus and Ebola alike.
It’s not entirely clear how the drug accomplishes this feat, but it seems to stop the genetic material of the virus, RNA, from being able to copy itself.
That, in turn, stops the virus from being able to proliferate further inside the patient’s body.
It has been approved for emergency use in the UK, despite its mixed results.
Hydroxychloroquine
The anti-malaria drug was first touted as a ‘game changer’ by US President Donald Trump in April.
It works in the treatment of malaria by blocking the virus from replicating.
It also has anti-inflammatory properties which stop the immune system from going into hyper-drive and attacking healthy cells.
Trump said there were ‘very strong signs’ hydroxychloroquine could treat the viral disease based on limited anecdotal reports from US doctors and poor studies.
But last month, Oxford University’s RECOVERY trial stopped enrolling participants to its hydroxychloroquine arm after concluding that it showed no clinical benefit.
A quarter of NHS patients given hydroxychloroquine died from Covid-19, compared to 23.5 per cent who were not prescribed the drug.
The scientists running the trial said the results were ‘pretty compelling’, adding: ‘This isn’t a treatment that works.’
President Trump has also admitted to taking the drug as a preventative therapy, to stop him from getting infected from the disease in the first place. Trials are currently ongoing to see if the tablets can work in this way.
