Coronavirus: 'a breakthrough'
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Started by metmike - July 20, 2020, 1:01 p.m.

Coronavirus: Protein treatment trial 'a breakthrough'

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53467022

The treatment from Southampton-based biotech Synairgen uses a protein called interferon beta which the body produces when it gets a viral infection. 

The protein is inhaled directly into the lungs of patients with coronavirus, using a nebuliser, in the hope that it will stimulate an immune response.

The initial findings suggest the treatment cut the odds of a Covid-19 patient in hospital developing severe disease - such as requiring ventilation - by 79%.

Patients were two to three times more likely to recover to the point where everyday activities were not compromised by their illness, Synairgen claims.

It said the trial also indicated "very significant" reductions in breathlessness among patients who received the treatment.

In addition, the average time patients spent in hospital is said to have been reduced by a third, for those receiving the new drug - down from an average of nine days to six days.


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By metmike - July 20, 2020, 1:05 p.m.
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Coronavirus: Oxford vaccine triggers immune response


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53469839


A coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford appears safe and triggers an immune response. 

Trials involving 1,077 people showed the injection led to them making antibodies and T-cells that can fight coronavirus. 

The findings are hugely promising, but it is still too soon to know if this is enough to offer protection and larger trials are under way.

The UK has already ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine. 

How does the vaccine work?

The vaccine - called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 - is being developed at unprecedented speed. 

It is made from a genetically engineered virus that causes the common cold in chimpanzees.

It has been heavily modified, first so it cannot cause infections in people and also to make it "look" more like coronavirus. 

Scientists did this by transferring the genetic instructions for the coronavirus's "spike protein" - the crucial tool it uses to invade our cells - to the vaccine they were developing. 

This means the vaccine resembles the coronavirus and the immune system can learn how to attack it.