COVID-19: Multiple sclerosis drug can potentially help coronavirus patients recover

As COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the world at rapid speed, a new potential treatment for the highly-infectious disease has been discovered by scientists involving a drug that is traditionally prescribed to treat multiple sclerosis. The British researchers have found out that the multiple sclerosis drug calms down the immune system of a patient suffering from a severe infection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. However, they also said on November 12 that more research is required to determine the actual efficacy of the drug. 

British biotechnology company Synairgen's new experimental treatment of COVID-19 os the version of interferon beta-1a that is repurposed to treat the disease that has infected millions of people across the globe. The researchers found that the rendered version called, SNG001 has increased the odds of improvement and recovery among the patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in the phase 2 trial.

In a journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, the researchers wrote, “SNG001 reduced the odds of developing severe disease or dying by 79%.”

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What is SNG001?

Basically, SNG001 is an inhaled formula of interferon beta-1a which is typically used to decrease the inflammation and lessen the damage caused by multiple sclerosis. In the phase 2 trial, the new experimental treatment of COVID-19, SNG001 was administered to 48 patients using a nebulizer while at least 50 patients received the placebo. After nearly two weeks, patients who received the daily treatment were twice as likely to recover by 15th or 16th day. Moreover, those received a placebo are over three times as likely to improve by 28th day. 

However, "there was no significant difference between treatment groups in the odds of hospital discharge or time to hospital discharge," the researchers wrote.

Meanwhile, as the global race to find treatment or vaccine of COVID-19 has intensified, Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine candidate has shown more than 90 per cent efficacy in preventing coronavirus and now the two companies are working to distribute the experimental drug. Being hailed as the major victory in the fight against the pandemic, the American drugmaker Pfizer Inc in collaboration with Germany’s BioNTech Inc has caused a stir across the world. While it gave the much-needed optimistic boost to the global research for a COVID-19 vaccine especially when most nations are gripped with the second wave, company’s November 9 has also surged the stock markets to reportedly new records. 

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