Synairgen's inhalable drug fails study in hospitalised COVID patients (updated)
21/02/2022 07:59
(Adds details on trial, background on drug)
Feb 21 (Reuters) - Synairgen SYNG.L said on Monday its
inhalable therapy failed an international late-stage trial
testing the treatment in patients hospitalised with COVID-19, in
a blow to the development of the British drugmaker's key
product.
SNG001, an inhalable formulation containing the
broad-spectrum antiviral protein interferon beta, is also being
tested in a late-stage COVID-19 trial sponsored by the U.S.
National Institutes of Health. Results from that trial are yet
to be announced. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2RG37J
"While we are disappointed by the overall outcome, SNG001
has been administered to hospitalised patients on top of
standard of care which changed substantially between our Phase 2
and Phase 3 trials," Chief Executive Officer Richard Marsden
said.
"This improvement in patient care may have compromised the
potential of SNG001," he said, adding that the company was now
analysing the full dataset from the "Sprinter" trial.
As part of Sprinter, 623 patients were given SNG001 or
placebo on top of the standard treatment at random, to test
whether it cut down their hospital stay and how long the
patients took to recover.
Interferon beta is a naturally occurring protein
instrumental to the body's antiviral responses.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu and Shounak Dasgupta)
((Pushkala.A@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @pullthekart; Mobile:
+91 852 751 3793))