An antiviral drug has shown positive results at preventing coronavirus infections as the developers hope to begin clinical testing.

The drug, developed by Pneumagen, a University of St Andrews spin out company, has shown it was effective for treating infection and blocking new infections.

The company, which focuses on treating infectious disease and developing oncology treatments by targeting the human glycome, announced results from three separate in vitro studies into preventing coronavirus infections, including SARS-CoV-2 infection, the cause of Covid-19.

READ MORE: Millions of PPE delivered across the country including Glasgow

It used Neumifil™ and other first-in-class multivalent Carbohydrate Binding Modules (mCBMs), generated using its proprietary GlycoTarge™ platform.

Hopes are high that Neumifil™ could be used to prevent respiratory tract infections.

It has worked closely with Public Health England’s Porton facility, and separately the University of Glasgow’s MRC Centre for Virus Research, to test the activity of its mCBMs against coronaviruses, using plaque reduction assays.

At both Porton and the University of Glasgow, Pneumagen’s mCBMs were found to reduce the number of SARS-CoV-2 plaques in these assays when the mCBMs were used in both prevention and treatment of infection.

Pneumagen now wants to begin clinical testing for the prevention and treatment of Covid-19.

Douglas Thomson, CEO of Pneumagen, said: “Today’s positive results from in vitro studies of our mCBMs against coronaviruses show that glycan binding has the potential to prevent and treat infection.

“This further supports the value of our universal therapeutic modality to block access to lung cells of SARS-CoV-2, as well as other viruses, that cause respiratory tract infections, providing the potential for a pan-viral respiratory product.

"Our goal is now to rapidly begin clinical testing for the prevention and treatment of Covid-19.”

READ MORE: Coronavirus: Glasgow son says father's fatal lung cancer symptoms 'fobbed off' by NHS

Pneumagen’s lead mCBM, Neumifil™ is already being developed for the universal treatment of respiratory tract infections (RTIs) including Influenza Virus (IFV) and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and now coronaviruses.

Neumifil’s novel mechanism of action, masking glycan receptors in patients’ airways thereby preventing the entry of the virus, has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of RTIs by providing clinicians with the opportunity to offer patients total protection against any circulating viral strain.