Multiple sclerosis drug helps coronavirus patients recover, Phase 2 trial suggests

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Sat, 2020-11-14 02:11 — mike kraft

Multiple sclerosis drug helps coronavirus patients recover, study suggests A drug normally prescribed to treat multiple sclerosis helped reduce the risk of severe disease from Covid-19. Jacqueline Howard, CNN CNN

(CNN) A drug normally prescribed to treat multiple sclerosis helped reduce the risk of severe disease from Covid-19, British researchers reported Thursday. But more research is needed to show whether the drug, which calms down the immune system, can really help people with severe coronavirus infections.

The researchers found British biotechnology company Synairgen's new experimental version of interferon beta-1a, repurposed to treat Covid-19, increased the odds of improvement and recovery among hospitalized Covid-19 patients in a Phase 2 trial.

"SNG001 reduced the odds of developing severe disease or dying by 79%," the researchers wrote in the journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

SNG001 is an inhaled formula of interferon beta-1a, typically used to decrease inflammation and reduce the nerve damage caused by multiple sclerosis. In the trial, SNG001 was administered to 48 patients using a nebulizer while 50 patients received the placebo.

After two weeks, patients who got the daily treatment were twice as likely to get better by day 15 or 16 and more than three times as likely to improve by day 28 than those who got placebo, the researchers found. However, "there was no significant difference between treatment groups in the odds of hospital discharge or time to hospital discharge," the researchers wrote. ...

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