The trial will be led by Professor Tom Wilkinson and be carried out with Synairgen, a drug development company founded by our University Professors Stephen Holgate, Donna Davies and Ratko Djukanovic.
100 patients will take part in the trial which will involve inhaling either a placebo or SNG001, a special formulation of the naturally occurring antiviral protein interferon beta 1a.
The researchers have shown that people at high risk of COVID-19, including older people and those with some chronic diseases, have lower levels of Interferon beta 1a, which is produced in all our lungs during viral lung infections.
SNG001 delivers this antiviral directly to the lungs, correcting this deficiency and counteracting viral strategies to evade the host’s immune defences.
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