Shares of British biotech company Synairgen went up by more than 450% after it reported positive early results for its potential Covid-19 drug.
Investors were enthusiastic over early results from a Phase 2 trial of the Synairgen Covid-19 drug, boosting its shares by more than 450%. According to the company, the Phase 2 trial showed that the treatment greatly reduced the number of patients needing intensive care and accelerated recovery.
Positive trial results and surge in shares
Year-to-date, Synairgen's shares have increased by almost 2,800%, signalling the enthusiasm of investors for treatments or a vaccine to fight the coronavirus pandemic and help the economy recover.
The trial results revealed that the company's inhaled formula of the protein interferon beta reduced the chances of a patient developing severe disease by 79% while those who received the treatment were two or three times as likely to recover.
Interferon beta is used for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and has been approved for use by injection in several other trials.
According to Synairgen chief executive officer (CEO) Richard Marsden, the results were a "major breakthrough" and that the biotech company would seek approval to make the treatment available to the public after further trials.
Marsden said: "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."
A spokesperson for the UK medicines regulator explained that while the results were only preliminary, it has accelerated processes for approving potential coronavirus treatments while the UK Department of Health said further testing and peer review would be required.
Naveed Sattar, a professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, pointed out: "It would be good to see the full results once presented and peer-reviewed to make sure they are robust and the trial conduct was rigorous."
"Such work would require a larger trial but, even so, these results are very exciting," Sattar added.
Stephen Evans, professor of Pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: "It is sad that stock market rules seem to militate against proper scientific release of at least a pre-print of a scientific paper."
"There are reasons to believe it could well be an effective treatment, but these results, while encouraging, should not be taken to mean that the treatment is so dramatic that everyone should be given it," Evans argued.
Other treatments making headway
The Covid-19 vaccine from Oxford University and AstraZeneca shows promising response in an early-stage human trial, based on a newly released data in the medical journal The Lancet.
The experimental vaccine is being called by Oxford and AstraZeneca researchers ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. The research involves genetic material from the coronavirus with a modified adenovirus which could trigger infections in chimpanzees. The phase one trial involved over 1,000 participants. AstraZeneca’s shares dropped by about 3% in morning trading.
The trial found that the coronavirus vaccine manifested both antibodies and killer T-cells to fight the infection. The researchers also detected neutralizing antibodies in participants after 28 days.
Meanwhile, a Covid-19 vaccine from biotechnology firm Moderna has shown promising results in terms of inducing immune responses in a Phase 1 study.
The vaccine, which was developed by Moderna in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, worked to trigger an immune response with mild side effects, including fatigue, chills, headache, muscle pain, and pain at the injection site.
It became the first US vaccine candidate to publish results in a peer-reviewed medical journal. A large Phase 3 trial, the final trial stage before regulators decide to make it available, is expected to start this month.
