The next fight against COVID and the flu may be as simple as the spritz of a nasal spray containing non-drug ingredients already used in other similar products.
Researchers at Harvard and Brigham and Women’s Hospital are developing a new spray that has shown to be 99.99% effective at defending against COVID and influenza in lab tests.
When it comes to germs, the nose is a primary conduit to the lungs. Researchers say the spray creates a thin gel along the nasal passages that traps and destroys viruses and bacteria before they can travel to the lungs. It has not yet been tested in humans, but it shows considerable promise in lab mice.
“We dosed the animals with 25 times the lethal dose of a virus,” says Dr. Nitin Joshi, an assistant professor at BWH and Harvard Medical School. “Before that, we gave some of them a single dose of the Pathogen Capture & Neutralizing Spray. We found that all the treated mice showed complete protection while the untreated mice did not show any benefit.”
Dr. Joshi says when researchers examined the lungs of the mice, those that did not receive the nasal spray had very high levels of virus. By contrast, the virus could not be detected in the lungs of those that received the spray.
Joshi stresses more testing is needed but is hopeful clinical trials can be expedited as the ingredients are already in use in similar products. The ingredients are listed in the FDA’s Inactive Ingredient Database and Generally Recognized as Safe list.
If the spray eventually makes it to market, Joshi says it would supplement vaccines to form a stronger line of defense.
“While vaccines are crucial, they really take time to develop and may not work well against new variants,” Joshi says.
Researchers expect it to take several more years before their nasal spray is approved and ready for distribution.
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