Synairgen shares jump as COPD drug trial indicates positive effect

Synairgen shares jumped on Thursday after an ongoing phase II study of its SNG001 drug suggested it could assist in boosting the defences of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease sufferers.

The respiratory drug discovery and development company said the current study involves monitoring the effect or benefits of the drug in COPD suffering patients who have cold or flu infections, complications which are major drivers of COPD exacerbations.

COPD exacerbations are the second most common cause of hospitalization and will be caused by colds and flu in approximately 50% of cases.

Stephen Holgate, founder of AIM-listed Synairgen, said: "The aim of treatment with inhaled SNG001 is to boost deficient anti-viral defences in the lung to prevent the spread of virus infections from the upper respiratory tract. These biomarker data support the proposed mechanism of action, showing that anti-viral activity was boosted by SNG001."

Patients who inhaled the drug had “increased markers of antiviral activity” including higher instances of expression among genes that code for proteins that are known to interfere with viral replication.

"As SNG001 has been found to be well tolerated in COPD and the impact of colds is more frequent and greater in COPD patients than in asthma, these results greatly increase our confidence in the potential for SNG001 to provide clinical benefit in the second part of this trial, where we will look at the effects of treatment in patients with a confirmed respiratory virus infection," said Holgate.

As of 1156 BST, Synairgen’s shares were up 11.19% at 16.40p.