LONDON – (BUSINESS THREAD) – The first clinical trials in the UK of a nasal spray that kills 99.9% of the coronavirus causing Covid-19 will start on January 11 in Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Surrey.
The SaNOtize Nitric Oxide Nasal Spray (NONS) is designed to kill the virus in the upper respiratory tract, preventing it from incubating and spreading to the lungs.
The treatment, developed by SaNOtize Research and Development Corp., based in Vancouver, Canada, was 99.9% effective in killing the coronavirus in independent laboratory tests at the Antiviral Research Institute of Utah State University. Additional studies in rodents with COVID-19 infection showed a reduction of more than 95% within the first day after infection. It is currently conducting Phase II clinical trials in Canada, which have been approved by Health Canada and in other countries.
The SaNOtize treatment is based on nitric oxide, a natural nanomolecule produced by the human body with proven antimicrobial properties that has been shown to have a direct effect on SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19 . The treatment can be applied by nasal spray, throat swab or nasal rinse.
Laboratory tests on the SaNOtize treatment at the Utah State University Antiviral Research Institute confirmed that the company’s nitric oxide release solution inactivates more than 99.9% of SARs-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, within two minutes.
Rodent studies conducted at Colorado State University showed that the SARS-CoV-2 virus load was reduced by an average of more than 95% on the day after infection, with half of the rodents not having a detectable virus at all. This was after vaccination with the virus and two treatments of SaNOtize’s nasal spray.
“Any intervention for the treatment of coronavirus – the virus responsible for Covid-19 – should be welcomed. The fact that a relatively easy and simple nasal spray can be an effective treatment is welcome news and offers an important advancement in our therapeutic armor against this devastating disease. Ashford and St Peters Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is proud to be at the forefront of testing this intervention, ”said Pankaj Sharma, MD, FRCP, Professor of Neurology and Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Research at Royal Holloway, University of London, said.
The importance of nitric oxide in the human body and its healing properties was first discovered by Prof Ferid Murad of Stanford University, for whom he shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine. Prof Murad is a member of the board of SaNOtize.
“Nitric oxide is an incredibly versatile molecule that regulates almost everything in our body,” said Dr. Murad said. ‘When used therapeutically, it has a well-documented safety profile and is shown to be effective against a wide range of viruses, bacteria and fungi. I am excited to work with the SaNOtize team and believe that they have a safe technology that can be effective in treating infections, including Covid-19. ”
‘The nasal spray SaNOtize provides a barrier. It contains nitric oxide which prevents and treats early infection by destroying the virus and inhibiting viral replication in the cells in the nose. In addition, nitric oxide has been shown to block the ACE-2 receptor, which is essential for the virus to infect our cells. This is what makes our product unique and enables it to stand alone from any other nose approach, ”said Dr Chris Miller, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of SaNOtize.
“This is a safe technology that can be effective in treating infections, including Covid-19,” said Dr. Miller said. ‘Everyone just thinks you get the virus, and it gets into your lungs and you die, but it’s a progress. First you are exposed to it, and the virus tries to attach to the cells in your nose, and it takes a while to incubate, and multiplies in the nasal cells for a few days and then the virus will rush into your lungs. ‘
‘What we aim for is to clean the upper breathing area at different points of the day. In the morning when you get up, where the virus has spilled and started accumulating in the back of your upper airway, you need to do the first spray of the day, and then you go out that day, and you can not always control social distance. ends the closure, and so we have nasal spray during the day. At the end of the day, you come home and basically rinse your nose and nasopharynx, so that your nose, sinuses and the back of your throat will be clean where these viruses initially occur, ‘said dr. Miller said.
Rob Wilson, a former British government minister representing SaNOtize in the UK and the EU, is overseeing the trial.
“If, as we expect, the current Phase II results in Canada confirm the very encouraging results of the Antiviral Research Institute, and ongoing studies at Colorado State University SaNOtize, emergency permission will be sought in Canada to proceed directly with the launch of the product in phase IV. to the market as part of the ongoing global fight against this deadly pandemic, ”Wilson said.
‘The vaccination program is essential, but it will also take time to distribute to the general public. Mutant strains can develop, requiring changes to the vaccine. It is not known how long the immunological protection will last. It is also unclear whether the vaccines will prevent people who are vaccinated from becoming infected and possibly transmitting the virus to other unprotected people.
For these reasons, it is important to research and deliver over the counter simple, safe and inexpensive over-the-counter therapeutic product solutions in the UK and EU as soon as possible, which is why I am starting these UK trials, the first in Europe, soon on the go. The nasal spray can not only penetrate the virus, but the active ingredient nitric oxide kills the virus and prevents it from multiplying. “If successful, people in Britain and Europe could have an effective, safe and accessible treatment within months that they can use daily to kill the coronavirus and prevent it from spreading,” Wilson said.
“This simple treatment will help us to resume something approaching normal social life, work and travel with some confidence that even though we inhale the virus, we can both protect against it and destroy it through the SaNOtize solution on a regular basis. to apply, “Wilson said. said.
‘The SaNOtize treatment should be considered as an effective treatment for the upper respiratory tract, similar to when people use hand disinfectants to clean their hands on the outside of the body. “If people are possibly exposed, they will spray to clean their upper airways and kill the virus before it can cause serious illness,” Wilson said.
Research published in Nature confirms that the nose is the primary area of infection, especially in the early period of infection. Hospital trials with nitric oxide are underway in the US and Europe with severely ill coronavirus patients inhaling the gas to kill the virus in their lungs and prevent it from progressing to serious infection. SaNOtize’s solution can be applied from a hospital setting. It is easy to use, cheap and safe.
The company’s strategy is to use the nitric oxide spray as a multiple defense against infection and to provide effective treatment for mild and moderate cases with the aim of preventing severe inflammatory reaction and lung infection.
Scientists believe that the coronavirus is transmitted via droplets in the air to the mucous membranes in the nose, where it is repeated during a three-day incubation period, which damages the nasal mucosal cells, and then brought into the nasal secretions to the lower airway, which leads to the danger of fatal viral pneumonia.