Multiple sclerosis drug helps coronavirus patients recover by 79%

British researchers have confirmed that there is a drug usually prescribed to treat multiple sclerosis that has helped reduce the risk of serious Corona virus disease, but more research is needed to show whether the drug, which calms the immune system, can indeed help people with severe Coronavirus infection.

Wofka Lashbk ” CNN“American researchers found that the new beta of the British biotechnology company Synairgen From interferon beta-1a , Which was reused to treat COVID-19 Among patients, the potential for improvement and recovery increased COVID-19 In the hospital in a phase two experiment.

The researchers wrote in a journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine “The drug reduced the risk of serious illness or death from Coronavirus by 79%.”

The drug is an inhaled combination of an interferon beta-1a, usually used to reduce inflammation and reduce nerve damage caused by multiple sclerosis. In the study, 48 patients received a nebulizer while 50 patients received a placebo.

The researchers found that after two weeks, patients who received daily treatment were twice as likely to improve by day 15 or 16 and three times more than those who received placebo. However, the researchers write that “there was no significant difference between the treatment groups in the possibility of discharge from the hospital or time of discharge.”

Within two weeks of treatment, the researchers found that 21 patients had recovered 44% – in the disease group, compared with 11 patients – or 22% – in the placebo group. Then, by day 28, 58% had recovered in a group SNG001 Compared with 35% in the placebo group and overall, 3 patients died during the study and they were all in the placebo group.

The researchers also found that 11 patients – or 22% – in the placebo group developed severe disease by day 16 compared with six patients – or 13%, and the most common adverse event in the treatment group was sore. head.

The researchers wrote in the study: “The drug is a treatment that has already been studied and has been shown to be well tolerated in patients with asthma and COPD. It appears to be well tolerated even in hospitalized patients with the disease.” COVID-19These encouraging data provide strong motivation for larger international studies in the context of the ongoing clinical burden COVID-19. “

According to international lung disease experts, they have speculated that a phase III trial will likely be needed.