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Southampton biotech starts trials for Indian Covid variant treatment

A CT scan picture shows lungs of 48-year-old coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patient 
A CT scan picture shows lungs of 48-year-old coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patient

Southampton biotech spin-out Synairgen is starting its first Indian variant human trials of a Covid treatment that has proved highly effective in helping patients recover from the virus.

The company is dosing its first patients in India this week with an inhaled drug containing the active ingredient interferon beta.

It is a protein that the body makes to jolt the immune system into action when it encounters a virus. Covid suppresses the production of this protein, which helps it to evade the immune system.

Phase three trials are underway globally and the drug is being tested on several variants, including the Brazilian one. The trial in India is expected to provide data on the treatment’s efficacy against the Indian variant.

Richard Marsden, chief executive of Synairgen, said data from earlier trials had been extremely strong. “Our phase two data is the strongest in the world on Covid and if we get the same in phase three it will be transformational for Synairgen,” he said.

The company's share price has nearly tripled over the past year as investors pinned their hopes on trial success.

Synairgen was founded in 2004 by three academics, professors Donna Davies, Ratko Djukanovic and Sir Stephen Holgate, who still hold shares in the company. Sir Stephen has nearly 900,000 shares that are now valued at £1.4m.

The biotech listed in the same year it was created and has been working since then on an inhaled treatment for patients who are hospitalised with severe viral lung infections.

The founding professors had seen how people with asthma and other lung conditions often ended up in hospital and were not helped by steroids. They discovered that interferon beta, when inhaled directly into the lung, could offer a new treatment.

However, the technology is complex, which is why Synairgen has spent 15 years developing the drug. When the pandemic started, the company instantly switched its focus to applying the experimental treatment to Covid.

“We had always recognised that when a scary virus came along that this inhaled interferon beta treatment could help,” said Mr Marsden, who was the first employee hired by Synairgen.

“And when Covid fizzles out one day we would expect our drug will be given to people hospitalised with influenza and other viruses which trigger an infection in the lungs. That was our ultimate aim, but Covid has condensed five years of work in 18 months.”

The phase three trial started in January and will finish by the second half of this year. If the trials are successful, the drug will be a blockbuster, meaning it could generate annual sales of more than £1bn, and transform the company. It could go on sale by Christmas.

“If the trials show it doesn’t actually do anything, we are at zero, but at least we have given it our absolute all,” said Mr Marsden. “It will be a blockbuster or nothing.”

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