Airing tonight – Monday 4 May 2020 at 19:30 on BBC One – the latest episode of Panorama includes details of a new treatment being trialled at University Hospital Southampton (UHS), which doctors hope will help people recover from COVID-19.
The treatment, developed by UK scientists and known as SNG-001, has been shown in trials to stimulate the immune response in the lungs of patients with asthma and chronic lung disease. It uses a protein called interferon beta, which our bodies produce when we get a viral infection.
Our University’s Professor Tom Wilkinson heads up the drug trial. He told the programme:
“In an ideal world we would see a significant improvement in the health of the patients receiving the drug, a reduction in those requiring intensive care and ventilation. But it is early days to understand that and we will know more when we have the results.”
Finding a drug that works for COVID-19 patients would make a huge difference – it would save lives, reduce the pressure on health services around the world and allow countries to ease lockdown restrictions.
Initial results from the interferon-beta trial are expected by the end of June.
If successful, the treatment would face further tough checks before it could be used routinely on patients.
Watch: BBC Panorama: When Will We Be Safe? Monday 4 May at 19:30 on BBC One.
