A new study details how a nasal spray formulated by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, may work to protect against viral and bacterial respiratory infections
Source: Preclinical studies suggest a drug-free nasal spray could ward off respiratory infections
fta:
The new study details the research team’s efforts to create a nasal spray to defend against airborne respiratory illness. “The spray, called Pathogen Capture and Neutralizing Spray (PCANS) in the paper, was developed using ingredients from the FDA’s Inactive Ingredient Database (IID), which have been previously used in approved nasal sprays, or from the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) list of the FDA,” said co-senior author Nitin Joshi, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “We developed a drug-free formulation using these compounds to block germs in three ways — PCANS forms a gel-like matrix that traps respiratory droplets, immobilizes the germs, and effectively neutralizes them, preventing infection.”
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Experiments in mice showed that a single dose of the PCANS nasal spray could effectively block infection from an influenza virus (PR8) at 25 times the lethal dose. Virus levels in the lungs were reduced by >99.99%, and the inflammatory cells and cytokines in the lungs of PCANS-treated animals were normal.
