According to the study, coronavirus patients treated with an experimental hepatitis drug were FOUR times more likely to eliminate the infection in seven days.
- Peginterferon-lambda is an artificial form of natural protein that requires immune cells to attack a virus and is used primarily to treat hepatitis.
- Drug receptors are found in the linings of the lungs and intestines, the main areas where COVID-19 attacks, and in the liver.
- The researchers gave half of a group of 60 coronavirus patients an injection of the drug and the other half a placebo.
- Patients who received the drug were four times more likely to have undetectable loads on the seventh day than the placebo group.
- Of the 60 patients, five went to the emergency department, four of whom were in the placebo group and one in the treatment group.
A new study suggests that patients with COVID-19 treated with an experimental hepatitis drug were able to clear the virus more quickly.
People with mild symptoms were given peginterferon-lambda, which is an artificial form of a natural protein that helps control respiratory diseases by calling on immune system cells at the site of infection.
The researchers found that patients who received an injection of the drug were four times more likely to have undetectable viral loads within seven days compared to a placebo-treated group.
The team, from the Hepatitis Health Center of Toronto, University Health Network, says the findings provide evidence that the drug could help curb the community’s spread of the virus while the vaccine is being deployed.
The researchers administered half of a group of 60 coronavirus patients an injection of an experimental hepatitis drug and the other half a placebo. Patients who received the drug were four times more likely to have undetectable loads on the seventh day than the placebo group (above).
Peginterferon-lambda is an artificial form of natural protein that requires immune cells to attack a virus and is mainly used to treat hepatitis (above).
“This treatment has great therapeutic potential, especially at this time, as we are seeing aggressive variants of the virus that are spreading around the world and are less sensitive to vaccines and antibody treatment,” said Dr. Jordan Feld , a liver specialist at the Toronto Liver Disease Center.
Peginterferon-lambda has been described in the past as a “call to troops” order for immune cells to fight disease.
Drug receptors are found in the linings of the lungs and intestines (the main areas where COVID-19 attacks) and in the liver.
Most experimental treatments are being studied in hospitalized patients, but researchers want to see if peginterferon-lambda can help avoid the need for hospitalization.
For the study, published in the journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, the team examined 60 outpatient COVID-19 patients, those who did not need hospitalization between May 2020 and November 2020 at six centers.
Half of the patients were randomly assigned a peginterferon-lambda injection or a placebo within seven days after the onset of symptoms or seven days after the first positive swab if asymptomatic.
One week after the injection, 80 percent of Participants in the peginterferon-lambda group had undetectable viral loads, compared with 63% in the placebo group.
After controlling basal viral load, patients who received the drug were four times more likely to have undetectable loads on the seventh day than the control group.
Treatment was even more evident in participants with higher viral levels, in excess of one million copies per milliliter.
Fifteen of the 19 patients in the peginterferon-lambda group with these high levels had undetectable loads on the seventh day compared with six of 16 in the placebo group.
“People who were treated removed the virus quickly and the effect was more pronounced in those with the highest viral levels,” Dr. Feld said.
‘We also saw a trend towards a faster improvement in respiratory symptoms in the treatment group.
Of the 60 patients, five went to the emergency department, four of whom were in the placebo group and one in the treatment group.
Feld said the drug helps reduce virus levels quickly, preventing people from getting worse or spreading the disease to other people.
“If we can lower the level of the virus quickly, people are less likely to transmit the infection to other people and we can even reduce the time it takes for personal isolation,” he said.