The initial results of a trial by a UK-based biotech company suggest that its treatment could drastically reduce the risks to patients with severe cases of COVID-19. 

Synairgen, based in Southampton, said on Monday that its drug, SNG001, helped reduce the risk of severe diseases in those hospitalized with COVID-19, according to data from a trial of more than 100 people in the UK. 

The trial used a protein called interferon beta, which the body produces when it gets a viral infection. The protein is then inhaled by infected subjects directly into their lungs via a nebulizer, where it – in successful cases – stimulates an immune response. 

Those who were given SNG001 had a 79 percent lower risk of developing a severe disease compared with those who had been given the placebo.

Also, those patients who received the drug were twice as likely to recover to the point where everyday activities were not impeded than those who received the placebo, the company said. 

"This assessment of SNG001 in COVID-19 patients could signal a major breakthrough in the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients," said Richard Marsden, CEO of Synairgen. "Our efforts are now focused on working with the regulators and other key groups to progress this potential COVID-19 treatment as rapidly as possible."

The news sent shares in the company up as much as 500 percent, indicating the demand for COVID-treatments.

Interferons have been touted as an effective treatment against COVID-19. Since the early months of the outbreak, Cuba has produced and exported a decades-old treatment, Alpha 2b, that it says is successful in treating the disease.