A team of Australian scientists has developed a COVID-19 nasal spray that potentially stops the infection of the pandemic in communities and across the globe. The prototype nasal spray was tested in ferrets and found to be 96% effective in stopping the spread of coronavirus in the lab animals. The potential COVID-19 vaccine was developed by Ena Respiratory, a biotech company based in Australia, with the support of Public Health England’s National Infection Service.
The coronavirus nasal spray was developed to boost the natural human immunity against common colds and flu and as well reduce the viral load of COVID-19 in the body. According to the scientists who published their study in the open-source preprint server bioRxiv – a journal that publishes preliminary scientific reports that have not been peer-reviewed – the nasal spray can prevent and even treat COVID-19.
The potential nasal spray is called INNA-051 and triggers the immune system to fight for itself by attacking and destroying pathogens that invade the body. After fully boosting the body’s immunity, the nasal drug prevents the proliferation and divisions of coronavirus viruses in the human body.
INNA-051 was developed as a nasal spray because COVID-19 basically invades the body through the nose, mouth, and eyes; and the virus causes severe respiratory tract diseases that endanger the general health of children, aged folks, and people with compromised immunity. When the drug is sprayed into the nose, it finds its way into the respiratory tract and prevents the multiplication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the body.
The managing director of Ena Respiratory, Christophe Demaison, said his team is surprised with the effectiveness of their nasal spray, adding it produced rapid eradication of the coronavirus pathogens and natural immune response in ferrets trialed with it.
“If humans respond similarly, the benefits of treatment are two-fold,” Demaison explained. “Individuals exposed to the virus would most likely rapidly eliminate it, with the treatment ensuring that the disease does not progress beyond mild symptoms. This is particularly relevant to vulnerable members of the community. In addition, the rapidity of this response means that the infected individuals are unlikely to pass it on, meaning a swift halt to community transmission.”
The scientists went further to write in the published study that their product produced a clinical therapy that is “based on prophylactic TLR2/6 innate immune activation in the URT to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission and provide protection against COVID-19.”
Source: news-medical.net
