RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – It “has a broad antiviral spectrum that kills all viruses and all variants,” words that sound too good to be true. They were said by the inventor of the nasal spray, biochemist Gilly Regev, an Israeli based in Canada, where she is one of the founders of SaNOtize Research and Development Corp.
Israel and New Zealand have given provisional approval for marketing the spray, which was tested in conjunction with two British scientific institutions.
The tests were phase two trials, with a smaller number of volunteers. The spray is multi-purpose: it works for prevention, to prevent transmission, reduce the duration of the disease, and mitigate the severity of symptoms in those infected.
It should not, of course, be seen as a panacea, but as one more weapon in an arsenal of few resources in the fight against resistant and, in a portion of cases, fatal pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus.
It is through the nose that the vast majority of infections occur, as everyone already knows. The other partner in the company that developed the spray, Chris Miller, summed up what the drug does this way: “It kills viruses in the upper airways, preventing them from incubating and spreading to the lungs.
The spray has as its main component nitric oxide, a nanomolecule produced by the human body that acts as a protector of cells in situations of strong stimuli.
Gilly Regev joked that her partner introduced her to “the crazy world of nitric oxide” – used in other formulations to hasten muscle mass increase and propel erections.
“We hope our spray will save many lives in countries that are waiting for the vaccine,” she told the Times of Israel website.
For obvious reasons, the nasal spray may play an important role in poorer countries with less structure for the purchase, storage and administration of Covid-19 vaccines.
“I really believe that those who use the spray daily will not be affected by Covid-19. We have shown in clinical trials that people who have used it have not been infected,” she said. The biochemist compared the spray to hand sanitizer for the nose.
In phase one tests with laboratory animals, the spray showed a 95% reduction in viral load after the first day of use.
The product should not be confused with the vaccine, also by nasal spray, which is being researched by Chinese and Indian pharmaceutical companies.
The spray vaccine is part of a new generation of immunizers under development. These include the single-dose vaccine using viral vector technology; the “virus cheater”, which uses an agent-like protein from Covid, and an even more complex and innovative one, which uses DNA to operate in conjunction with messenger RNA (like Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines) and direct the formation of proteins.
Compared to this research, the nasal spray is a very modest accessory, whose results are yet to be seen in the real world, that of the mass infections that continue to rage around the world.
Great care must be taken with the words “kill the virus” because of the expectation they create – a hope that we are not without, even if SARS-CoV-2 has so far been as tough nut to crack as its official name.
Source: Veja