LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Synairgen is to expand trials of a potential treatment for Covid-19 nationally, the respiratory drug specialist said on Thursday.
The AIM-listed company has been carrying out a placebo-controlled, home-setting clinical trial of an inhaled drug known as SNG001 in Southampton, but has now expanded it to include patients across the majority of the UK.

The decision was made after it emerged that most eligible patients lived too far away from Synairgen's virus-testing laboratory. It has therefore amended the trial protocols to allow patients from elsewhere in the country to join, as long as they have a positive test result for Covid-19 from another laboratory.

Richard Marsden, chief executive, said: "Not only does the home-setting trial design allow us to test the drug much earlier in the illness, possibly preventing the worsening of symptoms, but it also reduces the infection risk for both patients and front-line workers due to its virtual format.

"Synairgen's trial design, and its expansion nationally, lends itself to recruit additional patients more easily, particularly in the event of a second wave of this disease. In the meantime, we are on track to report the results of the 100 patients who have been successfully treated in the hospital setting in July."

Volunteers on the home-setting trial will have daily video calls with a doctor or nurse to supervise dosing and to assess trial endpoints.

As at 1200 BST, shares in Synairgen were trading 3% higher at 40.23p.

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