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Synairgen is a biotechnology company dedicated to drug discovery and development in asthma, COPD and other respiratory diseases. The company has a BioBank comprised of blood, sputum, nasal lavage, biopsies bronchial epithelial cells and fibroblasts from well-characterised donors with asthma, COPD and relevant controls. Synairgen has used this resource to develop advanced tissue models.
Drug programs include SNG001 (IFN-beta) for COPD and COVID-19, in phase I clinical trial stage, and LOXL2 inhibitors which have anti-fibrotic activity to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), kidney fibrosis and cardiac fibrosis. LOXL2 development is in partnership with Pharmaxis and is phase I clinical trial stage.
Synairgen received fast-tracked approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) an Health Research Authority (HRA) on March 18, 2020 to initiate a clinical trial to evaluate SNG001 as a treatment to lessen the severity of COVID-19 associated respiratory symptoms. SNG001 is an inhaled formulation of interferon-beta-1a (IFN-beta) which occurs in the body and acts to control antiviral responses by the innate immune system. Lack of INF-beta production in the lung has been linked to increased susceptibility of at-risk groups to develop severe respiratory symptoms from viral infections. Coronaviruses including the SAR-CoV-2 responsible for COVID-19 evolved to suppress the host’s production of INF-beta, helping the virus evade the immune system. SNG001 would provide increased INF-beta which is theorized to prevent or decrease symptoms of severe respiratory disease such as pneumonia.
Delivery of SNG001 is by nebulisation and the drug is suitable for inhaled delivery. SNG001 has previously been tested in phase 2 clinical trials in asthma patients with respiratory viral infection, which showed an improvement in lung function. SNG001 has been tested in vitro in lung cells in a collaboration between Synairgen and the US NIH during the MERS-CoV outbreak.
For COVID-19, SNG001 will complete a pilot phase study of 100 patients in a number of NHS trusts and with the NIHR Respiratory Translational Research Collaboration. After pilot study, a phase 2 clinical trial in COVID-19 patients is expected to begin.
