A Canadian-led study of a new potential antiviral therapy shows a single dose can cut the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19.
A health-care worker tests a woman at a pop-up COVID-19 assessment centre in Toronto, May 19, 2021.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denetteoffers significant protectionThe drug, peg-interferon lambda, was tested in nearly 2,000 people—both those vaccinated and unvaccinated—with COVID-19 in Canada and Brazil.
"In a sense, we're giving back something that the body is not producing because the virus that causes COVID-19 is dampening the production of interferon," Feld said in an interview with CTV News. "You ... test positive, you get the injection and you're done because it's a single dose," said Feld, who is also a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto."For people [who] have trouble with adherence to medicines, with drug interactions with the other medicines they're taking, this would be an easier therapy to administer," he added.
While he can’t tell if the injection changed the course of his illness, the Toronto man says he's happy to have helped scientists learn more about this potential treatment, especially for patients who, like him, have immune disorders that boost their risk of severe illness.But there are questions about the logistics of administering this drug by injection.
The study drug is produced by an American company, Eiger Biopharmaceuticals, and is not yet approved for sale in Canada or the U.S., and so researchers tell CTV News there is no projected cost at the moment.
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