How inhaling protein reduces COVID-19 death?

A United Kingdom company called Synairgen recently discovered a new COVID-19 treatment that could reduce a COVID-19 patient’s chances of death up to 79%, BBC reported.

More than 100 people in London done trial testing on the drug called SNG001. This drug is made out of a protein called interferon beta, which the human body mostly produces when it gets a virus. The drug, compared to other remedies, is inhalable by patients.

This means that the protein substance is directly inhaled, with the use of nebulizer, for the drug to enter the botched lungs of a COVID-19 patient directly.

The study finds that 79% of a patient’s COVID-19 severity is reduced due to inhaling the drug. The interferon beta is mostly used for treatments of multiple sclerosis. Once a person inhales the drug, it will trigger a stronger anti-viral inside the human body. Scientists claim that the drug can be more useful for COVID-19 patients who already have a weak immune system.

Aside from that, the SNG001 boasts it is more effective than a placebo that can treat more than twice the disease.

A new ‘game-changer’ drug?

Tom Wilkinson, one of the scientists from Synairgen, said that the drug is a ‘game-changer’ amid pandemic. Scientists claim that the drug will be able to deliver “a few 100,000 doses” within a month of production.

“We couldn’t have expected much better results than these,” Synairgen chief executive Richard Marsden told the BBC. “[This drug is] a major breakthrough in the treatment of hospitalized Covid-19 patients.”

The New York Times reported that the shares of the UK-based company nearly tripled to 97.50 pence, up from Friday of 36.50 pence, since the news of the new ‘game-changer’ drug was brought up.

Here’s bad news
Though the drug looks promising for most COVID-19 patients, here’s a little bad news. The study is not yet peer-reviewed or has not yet published in a journal. This means that the new ‘game-changer’ drug is still under probation for officially categorizing it as a new COVID-19 drug in the country.

But if the results will be peer-reviewed over the next coming weeks, it will be a remarkable drug that could be used to treat more patients in a faster but safer way.