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The preliminary results of a clinical trial supported by NIHR Oxford BRC researchers have suggested that a new treatment for COVID-19 dramatically reduces the number of patients needing intensive care.

Patient with inhaler © Nasir Hamid / OU Images

The treatment, a protein called interferon beta, has been developed by the UK biotech company Synairgen and a team of scientists at the University of Southampton.

Interferon beta, produced naturally by the body when it gets a viral infection, is inhaled directly into the lungs of patients with coronavirus using a nebuliser, with the aim of reducing viral load and stimulating an immune response.

Read the full article (NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre website)