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Synairgen says US government phase II/III trial of inhaled COVID-19 treatment has begun dosing

Published: 07:36 15 Feb 2021 GMT

Synairgen PLC -

Synairgen PLC (LON:SNG) said dosing has commenced with its inhaled interferon beta product as part of a US government-funded phase II/III coronavirus clinical trial.

The sub-study will evaluate drug SNG001’s potential in people with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms not yet requiring hospitalisation.

The ACTIV-2 clinical assessment is being used to accelerate the development of the most promising treatment candidates.

It is sponsored by America’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, and is adaptive in nature.

This means the phase II will ‘seamlessly expand’ into a phase III trial if the results are positive.

Synairgen chief executive Richard Marsden said: “With mutations of COVID-19 now emerging, and the concern that mutations may render the vaccines less effective, the need for broad spectrum treatment options remains very high.

“Our product is a potentially effective treatment as it is a virus agnostic and, we believe, strain agnostic antiviral, which is easy to use in the hospital or home setting.

“We look forward to tracking the progress of the ACTIV-2 trial alongside our other COVID-19 trials.”

As well as looking for safety and efficacy signals, the sub-studies in ACTIV-2 will assess whether a drug can reduce the amount of SARS-CoV-2 virus detectable in the nasopharynx (the upper part of the throat, behind the nose).

Synairgen itself is running a separate 610-patient, international phase III trial, which it said is progressing well.

This is assessing the efficacy of inhaled interferon beta in hospitalised people with COVID-19.

The company also recently completed recruitment of a group of 120 at-risk patients to evaluate SNG001 as a treatment for home use. The results are expected in the second quarter.

Synairgen looking beyond COVID in fight against respiratory illness

Synairgen PLC (AIM:SNG, OTC:SYGGF) chief executive Richard Marsden speaks to Thomas Warner from Proactive London about the company's ongoing efforts to develop what he describes as a "drug to help patients handle respiratory viruses." He explains that work on the drug long predates the COVID...

on 21/9/23