Synairgen focuses on potentially breakthrough coronavirus treatment now at last stage of trials

Synairgen is a respiratory drug discovery and development company founded by University of Southampton Professors Stephen Holgate, Donna Davies and Ratko Djukanovic.

The business, focused primarily on lung viral defence in asthma and COPD, uses its differentiating human biology BioBank platform and world-renowned international academic KOL network to discover and develop novel therapies for respiratory disease.

Synairgen is currently running a Phase II trial evaluating SNG001 in COPD patients and announced on 18 March 2020 a Phase II trial with SNG001 in COVID-19 patients to potentially assist with the global outbreak.

(, ) has appointed Gareth Walters, who brings 30 years’ expertise in global regulatory strategy, to the newly-created role of chief regulatory officer in preparation for regulatory submissions for its SNG001 product.

Chief executive Richard Marsden said: “His experience and expertise in global regulatory strategy will be invaluable as we prepare for SNG001 regulatory submissions.”

Dr Walters previously served as global regulatory affairs head and head of European regulatory affairs for Chugai Pharmaceuticals, where he led strategic and operational regulatory activities in Europe, Japan and the US.

Before this, he held commercial and clinical positions at Roche and various senior regulatory and executive management and board roles at several pharmaceutical and biotech companies, where Synairgen said he played a key role in bringing innovative new medicines to the market, including in the US and Europe.

Synairgen PLC (AIM:SNG, OTC:SYGGF, FRA:OMY) said the Phase III trial of its SNG001 inhaled, broad-spectrum antiviral is progressing well and it expects to enrol the last patient in November. Top line results are expected in early 2022.

In a statement alongside interim results, Synairgen said its clinical trial team, working alongside clinical research organization Parexel, has gained trial approvals in 17 countries and initiated over 100 trial sites despite the challenges posed by Coronavirus (COVID-19)-related restrictions. SNG001 is designed to treat COVID-19 amongst other conditions.

Synairgen PLC (LON:SNG) said lab tests of its inhaled interferon beta, which is being developed to treat people with severe effects of COVID, has shown “potent antiviral activity” against two new variants of the SARS-CoV-2.

The lab tests of SNG001 also demonstrated the “broad-spectrum antiviral activity”, which bodes well for its use across a number of respiratory viruses.

An upsurge in investor demand for healthcare and biotechnology stocks in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic has been likened to the heady days of the ‘tech boom’ in the late 1990s by one broker.

Andy Thacker at Turner Pope Investments told Proactive that the demand for healthcare stocks among investors was reminiscent of the tech boom in the fact that “investors didn’t want to look at anything else”.

Synairgen PLC‘s (LON:SNG) latest data from trials of Covid-19 treatment SNG001 has increased the likelihood of a positive read-out from the phase III trial underway currently in hospitalised patients, finnCap said.

The broker added it was sticking with its share price target of 505p and is awaiting the read-out from the phase III trial in the second half of 2021.

Today’s results were from a study of people with SARS-CoV-2 treated at home with SNG001 as well as data from a combined analysis of the hospital and home cohort.

Synairgen PLC‘s (LON:SNG) chief executive Richard Marsden speaks to Proactive’s Katie Pilbeam as the firm finds themselves ‘right in the middle of a global emergency’.

Marsden talks about their ‘role’ and their ‘exceptional progress’ for the whole group over 2020 as it continued to develop its treatment for coronavirus (COVID-19) infections.

He hails the speed at which his team has been working, ‘doing five years of work in two’, with the Phase III trial of SNG001 already initiated and the results are expected in the second half of this year after the first patient was dosed in January.