Respiratory developer Synairgen (AIM:SNG) saw its shares rose by almost a third on Friday. The company reports that the SG016 trial demonstrated the efficacy of SNG001 treatment in treating patients with COVID-19.
The company has posted recent test data in the Lancet Journal of Respiratory Medicine. This showed “positive top-line results” from a randomised study of 101 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and from a randomised study of either SNG001, Synairgen interferon beta-1A, or placebo inhaled formulations.
Positive data have been reported over time in July, September, and now in November. This trial was double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, and sought to test the efficacy and safety of SNG001 inhaled as a treatment for patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Patients were given SNG001 or placebo by inhalation via mouthpiece once daily for 14 days. The primary endpoint is changes in clinical status using the WHO order scale for clinical improvement.
Based on the trial, Synairgen said, “SNG001 has been shown to be well tolerated, and patients who received the medication had a higher chance of improvement and recovered more quickly.” Through the scale of clinical improvement, patients receiving SNG001 were more likely to improve and were more likely to recover to “no activity limit” during treatment. Most notably, there were three deaths in the placebo control group. There was nothing in the SNG001 sample.
Speaking of the test data, the lead author, professor and professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Southampton, Tom Wilkinson, said:
“The results support the belief that interferon beta, a widely known drug approved for use in injectable form for other indications, could be an inhaled drug that restores the immune response in the lungs and promotes recovery from Covid-19. This pH-neutral inhaled interferon beta-1A formulation (SNG001) provides high concentrations of immune proteins that increase lung defense rather than targeting specific viral mechanisms. This could provide additional benefits of treating Covid-19 when it occurs with infections with another respiratory virus, such as influenza or respiratory syncytial virus, which you may encounter in the winter months.”
Following the announcement, Synairgen shares rose between 30% and 35%, up to over 131p at lunchtime on November 20th, 13. Until July, the company’s shares were trading at about half of this price, but once the first SNG001 data was published, the shares traded at up to 246p.
