nurse sandy aitken shows patient kaye flitney how to use a nebuliser to inhale the new medicine deepnterferon beta, a protein that is part of the body's first line of defence against viruses. the idea is to stimulate a stronger immune response. one of the coronavirus's key tactics is to suppress the local production of interferon beta, and if the virus itself is suppressing the production of interferon beta, then it was logical to put the drug directly into the organ that is really struggling with the disease, and that is the lungs. and it appears to have worked. according to these initial findings, patients were 80% less likely to get more seriously ill, they were more than twice as likely to recover, they experienced less breathlessness, and were released from hospital earlier — after an average of six days = rather than nine. but the trial was small — just 101 patients.