British scientists are testing a pill made from gut bacteria as a treatment for coronavirus.
In a trial launched today, patients will receive the drug, which contains a strain of intestinal bacteria that reduce damage to lung tissue caused by inflammation.
Patients often become seriously ill when their immune system overreacts to the coronavirus and begins to cause collateral damage to the body.
The drug is expected to stop it without lowering the immune response necessary to clear the viral infection.
Patients will be given a pill made of intestinal bacteria in a trial launched today as a possible Covid treatment, to reduce damage to lung tissue caused by inflammation (file photo)
If the drug works, the scientists plan to give it to patients before they develop breathing problems, reducing hospital admissions and the numbers needing intensive care beds.
The pill, from a class of medications known as biotherapeutics, contains billions of cells from the microbiome, the insect community in our gut.
Preclinical trials of the drug, conducted by Leeds-based 4D pharma, use strains of intestinal bacteria that reduce damage to lung tissue from inflammation.
The pill, known as MRx-4DP0004, reduced an immune cell type, understood as a key factor in inflammation and lung damage in patients with coronavirus.
Now patients at Plymouth University Hospital will start treatment today before being deployed at sites across the UK.
Two thirds of the 90 patients will receive the drug twice a day, for two weeks, while the remaining third will receive a placebo.
They will then be monitored daily to see if their symptoms improve or if the virus progresses, before follow-up appointments after 14 and 28 days.
The first trials in asthma patients passed safety controls, so it is hoped that it can be approved quickly, if found to work.
Duncan Peyton, CEO of 4D pharma, said that being able to develop safe treatments was the “holy grail” for treatments.
He said: ‘Being able to safely treat hyperinflammation in the lungs, related to COVID-19, should be a priority when developing therapies for patients suffering from the more severe respiratory effects of the infection.
“Given the excellent safety profile of our medication, we would eventually like to treat patients with mild symptoms before they need to go to the hospital, reducing the chances of respiratory complications and the need for intensive care.”
Dr. Alex Stevenson, Scientific Director of 4D pharma said: ‘Reducing hyperinflammation, particularly in the lungs, is key to preventing the exacerbation of symptoms associated with more severe COVID-19.
“4D Pharma has shown that MRx-4DP0004 has the ability to attack inflammation in the lungs, potentially reducing COVID-19’s core respiratory problems.”
The coronavirus vaccine will give long-term protection, says the head of the Oxford study, as US experts find their own levels of puncture-activated antibodies THREE times more than in recovered patients.
By VICTORIA ALLEN CORRESPONDING SCIENCE FOR DAILY MAIL
A prick against the coronavirus should last at least several years, said the British scientist whose own vaccine project is the world’s favorite.
Professor Sarah Gilbert told parliamentarians that she was optimistic that a vaccine would provide “a good duration of immunity.”
She is the world-renowned expert who heads a team at Oxford University designing a vaccine, so her claim could help allay fears about how long protection against Covid-19 could last.
Concerns had arisen after those with other types of coronaviruses, which are less dangerous and cause the common cold, were able, in tests, to be reinfected within a year.
But Professor Gilbert told the Commons science and technology committee that there may be a better result from a vaccine than acquired natural immunity when people simply recover from a virus.
A prick against the coronavirus should last at least several years, said the British scientist whose own vaccine project is the world’s favorite (stock photo)
Professor Sarah Gilbert, an expert who heads a team at Oxford University that is designing a vaccine, told MPs she was optimistic that a vaccine would provide “a good duration of immunity.”
She said: ‘Vaccines have a different way of interacting with the immune system, and we follow people in our studies who use the same type of technology to make vaccines for several years, and we still see strong immune responses.
‘It is something that we have to test and follow over time, we cannot know until we have the data, but we are optimistic based on previous studies that we will see a good duration of immunity, at least for several years, and probably better than naturally acquired immunity. “
When asked about a timeline for the vaccine, after the possibility of coping with winter without one was raised, Professor Gilbert told the committee: “I hope we can improve those timelines and come to your rescue.”
About 8,000 Britons participate in a major trial of the Oxford vaccine, which is being manufactured by the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca. But, as coronavirus rates have declined in this country, researchers also aim to vaccinate 4,000 people in Brazil and 2,000 in South Africa.
It comes as an experimental coronavirus vaccine that Pfizer Inc. is testing and its German partner BioNTech produced neutralizing antibodies that were 1.8 to 2.8 times higher than those seen in recovered patients.
The vaccine candidate uses part of the pathogen’s genetic code to make the body recognize the coronavirus and attack it if a person becomes infected.
How injectable vaccines from Imperial College London and Oxford University would work
The trial, which used 45 people in three groups and a control group, showed encouraging results early.
“We still have a long way to go and we are also testing other candidates,” Philip Dormitzer, scientific director of Pfizer Research Labs, told STAT News.
“However, what we can say at the moment is that there is a viable candidate based on immunogenicity and early tolerability safety data.”
However, the key question in these trials is whether the vaccine will protect them from infection or simply make them less sick. It may also work less well in older people because their immune systems are weaker.
Kate Bingham, head of the UK’s Vaccines Task Force, told MPs she was less optimistic that the jab could protect against infection and more likely to only reduce the severity of symptoms.
Kate Bingham told parliamentarians today that she was confident the world would have some form of a Covid-19 vaccine in early 2021. But she said she was less optimistic that the jab could protect against infection and the vaccine is more likely to be able to reduce severity of symptoms
It is presented as an experimental coronavirus vaccine that is being tested by Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech. It produced neutralizing antibodies that were between 1.8 and 2.8 times higher than those observed in recovered patients.
She told the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee: ‘I am relatively optimistic that we will find a vaccine that can treat the population.
‘The warning is … is it a complete sterilizing vaccine, which means you can’t get infected, or is it one that basically eliminates symptoms to reduce mortality?
‘Clearly, we would like to get a sterilizing vaccine to prevent people from becoming infected.
Sir John Bell, a royal professor of medicine at Oxford University, also gave evidence to the committee, warning that the UK must “prepare for the worst” this winter, rather than relying on the development of a vaccine.
But he said he has now seen evidence for a good standard coronavirus that can produce a result in “a few minutes.”
Sir John said, “That would be transformative because we could all evaluate ourselves regularly and evaluate our children after they’ve been delusional and all that.”
He also urged the British to have a flu shot to “avoid pandemonium in A&E departments.”
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