Researchers at Cornell, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands have developed a nasal formulation that blocks the spread of COVID-19 among ferrets â and are hopeful the formulation could have the same effect on humans, and potentially generate therapeutic treatments as well.
Ferrets are one of the best animal models for COVID-19, because they take the virus quite readily, and undergo both direct contact and airborne transmission. Ferrets, similar to humans, also generate antibodies against the virus, yet display limited clinical signs.
âThis is a simple nasal formulation that we think can prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in humans,â said Chris Alabi, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and a co-senior author of the paper. âThe beauty of the research is its simplicity. The ultimate goal is to create a nasal spray drug product that can be made widely available, one that can be kept
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VIDEO: Animation showing how the antiviral lipopeptide prevents coronavirus infection by blocking spike protein-mediated fusion. view more
Credit: Visualization by Gaël McGill, Ph.D. & Jonathan Khao, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School and Digizyme (www.digizyme.com (link is external and opens in a new window)) created with.
A nasal antiviral created by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons blocked transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in ferrets, suggesting the nasal spray also may prevent infection in people exposed to the new coronavirus, including recent variants
The compound in the spray a lipopeptide developed by Matteo Porotto, PhD, and Anne Moscona, MD, professors in the Department of Pediatrics and directors of the Center for Host-Pathogen Interaction is designed to prevent the new coronavirus from entering host cells.