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IFN-?: A novel therapeutic for treatment of COVID-19

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Key facts

  • Disease

    COVID-19

  • start year

    2020

  • Funder

    Carlsberg Foundation

  • Principal Investigator

    Rune Hartmann

  • Research Location

    N/A

  • Lead Research Institution

    N/A

  • Research Priority Alignment

    N/A

  • Research Category

    Pathogen: natural history, transmission and diagnostics

  • Research Subcategory

    Pathogen genomics, mutations and adaptations

  • Special Interest Tags

    N/A

  • Study Type

    Non-Clinical

  • Clinical Trial Details

    N/A

  • Broad Policy Alignment

    Pending

  • Age Group

    Not Applicable

  • Vulnerable Population

    Not applicable

  • Occupations of Interest

    Not applicable

Abstract

Despite impressive progress over the past 10 months, there is still an urgent need for developing novel therapeutics against the SARS2 virus, the causative agent of Covid19. IFN-λ has already shown promising results in phase 2 clinical trials. To help doctors decide when and how IFN-λ should potentially be used to treat COVID-19 patients, we need more knowledge about the efficacy of IFN-λ and how IFN-λ affects the inflammatory response in the context of SARS2 infection in vivo. The golden Syrian hamster, is susceptible to infection with SARS2 and replicate human disease, thus this is a promising small animal model. We suggest producing recombinant hamster IFN-λ to study its effect against SARS-CoV-2 infection in the hamser model.