Filenews 6 February 2021
An experimental anti-drug, peginderferone-lambda, has shown in a Canadian clinical study that it can significantly accelerate recovery from covid-19 symptoms in patients who do not need hospital admission.
Researchers from the University Health Network of Toronto (including hospitals and institutes in the city), led by Dr. Jordan Feld, who published the study in the journal "The Lancet Respiratory Medicine", conducted a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled phase 2 clinical trial in 60 people, half of whom took the drug under trial and the rest placebo. It was found that those who took only one dose of peginderferone-lamda were at least four times more likely to "clean up" the Covid-19 infection within a week than those who took placebo. Patients with the highest 2015 were much more likely (79%) to have a higher risk of to clear the infection, in relation to the placebo group (38%).
Among the 60 participants in the clinical trial, five needed admission to the emergency room due to worsening respiratory problems and, of these, four had taken placebo and only one the normal drug. "This treatment has great therapeutic potential, especially at this time when we are seeing aggressive variants of coronavirus spread around the world and which are less sensitive to both vaccines and antibody therapies," said Dr. Feld, who had experience using the same drug against viral hepatitis.
"People who took peginderferone-lambda, cleared the virus quickly and the effect was more noticeable in those with the highest viral levels. We also saw a trend towards faster improvement in respiratory symptoms," he added. Rapid reduction of the virus load is considered important both to prevent the deterioration of patients and to reduce the risk of transmission of coronavirus to others.
"If we can reduce the viral load quickly, people will be less likely to spread the infection to those around them and we may still be able to shorten the time required for self-isolation," Dr Feld stressed. A larger phase 3 clinical trial is scheduled to begin soon, while additional studies of the same drug in hospitalized Covid-19 patients are underway at three universities (Toronto, Harvard and Johns Hopkins).
Peginderferone-lamda is a protein produced in the body in response to viral infections and which has the ability to activate various cellular mechanisms to fight "invaders". This interferon, which differs from other interferons, is very active in the lungs, liver and intestine, places where coronavirus can multiply. But it is not active in other parts of the body, which leads to fewer side effects than the use of other interferons.
In the Canadian trial, patients treated with similar side effects to those in the placebo group. The peginderferon-lamda used in the study was a long-acting version of the drug developed by the American biopharmaceutical company Eiger BioPharmaceuticals and which can be administered by a single subcutaneous injection with a small needle (such as insulin). Link to scientific publication: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(20)30566-X/fullt ext
Source: eyenews/KYPE
