Coronavirus drug hailed as game-changer after trial finds it cuts chances of severe illness

A "game-changing" treatment for coronavirus could cut the chance of serious illness by 80 per cent, research suggests. Trials using an inhaled protein, commonly used to treat multiple sclerosis, found patients who were given it were more than twice as likely to recover during the treatment period than those given a placebo. Stays in hospital were cut by one third, according to the study of Southampton hospital patients. The treatment, from biotech firm Synairgen, uses a protein called interferon beta, which the body produces when it gets a viral infection. The drug, known as SNG001, is inhaled using a nebuliser in order to stimulate an immune response. Richard Marsden, the chief executive of the company, said: "We couldn't have expected much better results than these."