Scientists believe an anti-viral nasal spray could treat Covid-19 and stop the infection reaching the lungs, following positive lab tests in Britain.
University of St Andrews spin-out company Pneumagen has carried out three separate lab-based studies into preventing coronavirus infections, including Sars-CoV-2 infection, the cause of Covid-19.
These have used Neumifil and multivalent Carbohydrate Binding Modules (mCBMs), generated using its GlycoTarge technology.
Neumifil, the company’s lead mCBM, is already being developed for the universal treatment of respiratory tract infections (RTIs), including Influenza Virus (IFV), Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and now coronaviruses.
Lead researcher Gary Taylor, professor of biology at St Andrews, told the Daily Mail : “Classic antivirals actually attack some part of the virus’s machinery, whereas our drug actually inhibits the virus from even getting into cells.
“We envision it being given as a nasal spray, and imagine it being given weekly or every other day.”
It works by masking glycan receptors in patients’ airways and thereby preventing the entry of the virus and has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of RTIs.
This is because it provides clinicians with the opportunity to offer patients total protection against any circulating viral strain.
The successful studies involved both treating infection and blocking new infections with MCBMs, using plaque – visible structures in a sheet of cells – reduction tests.
Pneumagen has been working closely with Public Health England’s Porton facility and separately with the University of Glasgow’s (UoG) MRC Centre for Virus Research.
At both Porton and UoG, the mCBMs were found to reduce the number of Sars-CoV-2 plaques in these tests when the mCBMs were used in both prevention and treatment of infection.
Pneumagen now wants to begin clinical testing for the prevention and treatment of Covid-19.
Its chief executive Douglas Thomson said: “Today’s positive results from in-vitro studies of our mCBMs against coronaviruses show that glycan binding has the potential to prevent and treat infection.
“This further supports the value of our universal therapeutic modality to block access to lung cells of Sars-CoV-2, as well as other viruses, that cause respiratory tract infections, providing the potential for a pan-viral respiratory product.
“Our goal is now to rapidly begin clinical testing for the prevention and treatment of Covid-19.”
A glycan is a generic name for a carbohydrate complex, made up from connected carbohydrate, or sugar, molecules.
Cells are coated in glycans, as are the surfaces of many animal viruses such as SARS-CoV-2.
This comes after a French study, published this month, of public health data which appeared to show that people who smoke are 80% less likely to catch COVID-19 than non-smokers of the same age and sex.
The scientists hypothesised in their study that nicotine, which is contained in cigarettes, could influence whether or not the coronavirus molecules are able to attach themselves to receptors in the body.