Louisville is developing a nasal spray to prevent COVID-19. It may be ready next year
Injected COVID-19 vaccines may not be the only preventative measure against coronavirus by the end of 2021.
The University of Louisville has received funding to develop a nasal spray to prevent COVID-19 and other viral respiratory infections. An $8.5 million agreement with the Department of Defense allowed U of L to launch a one-year project for developing the spray, the university announced Wednesday.
The one-year project includes testing the spray formula in lab studies and conducting a Phase I clinical trial, U of L said.
“The idea is to deliver the antiviral agent to the location in the body where the virus is known to replicate first, the upper respiratory tract,” Kenneth Palmer, director of the U of L Center for Preventative Medicine, said in a statement. Palmer is leading the project, which has been titled “PREVENT-CoV,” U of L said.
Researchers plan to seek emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration if the lab studies and the Phase I clinical trial are successful, U of L said. If authorized, the spray could be deployed as soon as the end of 2021, according to U of L.
The nasal spray would be deployed to front line workers and “vulnerable people for whom a vaccine might not be fully protective,” U of L said. It‘s possible that the spray could later be made widely available, but U of L’s targets for the spray are population groups who need it the most.
“I think that the product will be best targeted to populations at particularly high risk of respiratory infections,” said Betty Coffman, spokeswoman for U of L. “This would include military personnel who live and work in close quarters; people in nursing homes; people who have suppressed immune systems, and also household contacts of people who are particularly vulnerable to serious consequences of virus infections.”
The nasal spray will use a compound known as Q-Griffithsin. It’s an anti-viral protein that may also help prevent the Middle East respiratory syndrome and Nepah, according to U of L.
Pentagon executive official Douglas Bryce said in a statement the department was “pleased” to work with U of L to develop the spray.
“Repurposing a medical countermeasure that is already in development as a stopgap to potentially provide pre-exposure prophylaxis is a critical component of an effective layered defense,” he said.
This story was originally published December 9, 2020 at 8:59 AM.