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Clinical Trial
. 2020 Aug:85:106688.
doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2020.106688. Epub 2020 Jun 7.

Subcutaneous administration of interferon beta-1a for COVID-19: A non-controlled prospective trial

Farzaneh Dastan  1 , Seyed Alireza Nadji  2 , Ali Saffaei  3 , Majid Marjani  4 , Afshin Moniri  2 , Hamidreza Jamaati  5 , Seyed MohammadReza Hashemian  5 , Parvaneh Baghaei  4 , Atefeh Abedini  5 , Mohammad Varahram  6 , Sahar Yousefian  1 , Payam Tabarsi  7
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Subcutaneous administration of interferon beta-1a for COVID-19: A non-controlled prospective trial

Farzaneh Dastan et al. Int Immunopharmacol. 2020 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Recently, a new coronavirus spreads rapidly throughout the countries and resulted in a worldwide epidemic. Interferons have direct antiviral and immunomodulatory effects. Antiviral effects may include inhibition of viral replication, protein synthesis, virus maturation, or virus release from infected cells. Previous studies have shown that some coronaviruses are susceptible to interferons. The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effects of IFN-β-1a administration in COVID-19.

Methods: In this prospective non-controlled trial, 20 patients included. They received IFN-β-1a at a dose of 44 µg subcutaneously every other day up to 10 days. All patients received conventional therapy including Hydroxychloroquine, and lopinavir/ritonavir. Demographic data, clinical symptoms, virological clearance, and imaging findings recorded during the study.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 58.55 ± 13.43 years. Fever resolved in all patients during first seven days. Although other symptoms decreased gradually. Virological clearance results showed a significant decrease within 10 days. Imaging studies showed significant recovery after 14-day period in all patients. The mean time of hospitalization was 16.8 ± 3.4 days. There were no deaths or significant adverse drug reactions in the 14-day period.

Conclusions: Our findings support the use of IFN-β-1a in combination with hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir in the management of COVID-19.

Clinical trial registration number: IRCT20151227025726N12.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Interferon Beta-1a; Pulmonary infection.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The CONSORT diagram of the study.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Lung computed tomography and chest X-ray showing ground glass opacity and bilateral infiltration, respectively, at admission (left pictures). The images on the right reveal recovery after 14 days of treatment with IFN-β-1a.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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