Investors piled into Synairgen on Monday morning after the company said its drug helped reduce the risk of developing severe disease in hospitalised Covid-19 patients.
The respiratory drug discovery and development company announced positive results from its clinical trial of SNG001, its wholly-owned inhaled formulation of interferon beta.
Interferon beta is a naturally occurring protein, which orchestrates the body’s antiviral responses.
AIM-listed Synairgen, which originated from research at the University of Southampton, said patients who received SNG001 had a 79% lower risk of developing severe disease compared to placebo.
It added that the people who received SNG001 were more than twice as likely to recover from Covid-19 as those on placebo
Shares in Synairgen leapt 133.5p, or 365.75%, to 171.89p.
The trial involved 101 patients from nine UK hospitals between March 30 and May 27.
Patient groups were evenly matched in terms of average age, comorbidities and average duration of Covid-19 symptoms prior to enrolment.
It was a double-blind placebo-controlled trial , with patients and researchers not told whether they were receiving SNG001 or a placebo.
Richard Marsden, chief executive of Synairgen, said: "We are all delighted with the trial results announced today, which showed that SNG001 greatly reduced the number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients who progressed from ‘requiring oxygen’ to ‘requiring ventilation’.”
He added that the results also showed that patients who received SNG001 were at least twice as likely to recover to the point where their everyday activities were not compromised through having been infected by SARS-CoV-2. In addition, the drug “significantly reduced breathlessness”, he said.
Marsden said: “This assessment of SNG001 in Covid-19 patients could signal a major breakthrough in the treatment of hospitalised Covid-19 patients. Our efforts are now focused on working with the regulators and other key groups to progress this potential Covid-19 treatment as rapidly as possible."
Further analysis will be conducted over the coming weeks and reported in due course.
