As COVID struck the world, everything changed for us. Our lifestyles, routines and everyday practices were tossed out of the window and the world had to adopt newer ways to cope with a pandemic. Face masks became mandatory and sanitisers a necessity. The scientist got into a hurdle in making vaccines. Soon after vaccination for a majority of the population was completed, researchers began work on nasal sprays that could prevent COVID-19 infection.
The nasal sprays are a part of a line of drugs that scientists want to develop to prevent the virus from entering the body, reported TOI. There is a group of researchers that are also trying to look at the potential of nasal sprays to stop the virus from replicating in the nose or to make the nose a hostile space for the virus to keep it from entering the body.
“Viral blockade”, a self-explanatory method of blocking the SARS-CoV-2 virus is being developed by scientists so that the virus can be stopped from attaching itself to a cell which essentially leads to an infection.
There are various nasal sprays being tested and developed for widespread use but are yet to launch in the market. FabiSpray was one of the very few nasal sprays to be launched in the country, but it was only effective in reducing the viral load post-infection.
Preventive nasal sprays being researched upon include Heparin, a widely used drug for thinning the blood. Studies on mice have confirmed that the drug is safe and blocks the virus from attaching to the cells in our nasal cavity by attaching the virus to itself. Another nasal spray being developed that works in a similar way by attaching itself is IGM-6268.
Covixyl-V which is composed of Ethyl lauroyl arginine hydrochloride is another nasal spray which is in development. But instead of working like Heparin or IGM-6268, this compound will be altering the cell surface to stop the COVID virus from spreading and infecting new cells.
The development of these medications gives hope that the COVID-19 pandemic may soon be a thing of the past- at least in the form it has been known so far.
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