A single-injection antiviral treatment for newly infected Covid-19 patients cut the risk of hospitalization in half in a large clinical trial, according to a study released Wednesday.
Professor Jeffrey Glenn of Stanford University, co-author of the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), said the new drug was “similar to vaccinated and unvaccinated people alike. It has shown great benefits,”
The number of Americans who die each day from coronavirus has dropped to about 500, but treatment options for the disease remain limited.
One of the most common, Paxlovid made by Pfizer, involves taking 30 pills over five days.
The new treatment involves a single dose of pegylated lambda-interferon, a synthetic version of a naturally occurring protein that infected cells secrete to defend against viral infection.
Receptors for interferon lambda are primarily in the linings of the lungs, airways and intestine — the main places Covid strikes.
The Phase 3 trial of the drug, conducted between June 2021 and February 2022, involved nearly 2,000 patients with Covid symptoms in Brazil and Canada, about 85 percent of whom had been vaccinated.
The risk of Covid-19-related hospitalization or death from any cause was 47% lower in the interferon group than in the placebo group, according to the researchers.
