As the world’s top scientists and drugs giants strive to develop vaccines and experimental drugs to fight Covid-19, a little-known British company is already racing to the front line.
Synairgen, listed on the London Stock Exchange and worth just £50m, is starting a clinical trial in hospitals across the UK with a drug it hopes will prevent coronavirus sufferers from falling seriously ill.
Synairgen’s technology uses a naturally occurring protein known as interferon beta, which orchestrates the body’s antiviral response. It is used as a treatment for multiple sclerosis.
Synairgen’s team of experts has turned it into a drug that can be delivered through an inhaler. By boosting the lung’s defence mechanisms, it is hoped the drug — known as SNG001 — will prevent patients