How to beat COVID-19 with your nose

Do you need quick money and want to save the world? Just in time for Christmas, $ 1,050 would certainly be useful. It’s almost free if you look at what it takes: an overnight clinic, a follow-up appointment about a week later.

“Enjoy free WiFi and food,” said the invitation from Linear, a clinical trial facility operated from QEII Medical Center in Perth, Western Australia.

But yes, there is a catch: you will be in a phase 1 clinical trial where you will be given nasal drops made from chicken egg yolk that contain antibodies that “provide temporary immunity to SARS-CoV-2.” (We will come back to this .)

A phase 1 test tests security. Some recruits have already been dosed. Two more cohorts will be hired for late November.

You can read here how clinical drug trials are a form of paid work for many people in Australia, many of them young, many of them backpackers tired of picking grapes.

But really, this is the tip end of the search for treatments for the virus that has taken the world hostage for most of 2020.

The main focus of the media was the search for a silver bullet vaccine. Given that we won’t see a vaccine that has been fully proven to be safe by 2022, researchers are looking for alternatives.

Some say the nasal spray can save us better than the needle.

Nasal sprays are a growing area of ​​research

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong have developed a two-on-one nasal spray vaccine against seasonal influenza and the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Phase 1 clinical trials will begin this month with 100 people and will last at least a year.

The vaccine contains weakened flu viruses, including H1N1, H3N2, and B, with genetic segments of the COVID-19 spike protein. The vaccine enters the body through the nostril, as does the coronavirus and the flu. It essentially mimics the infection process of a respiratory virus and stimulates the immune response.

European and US researchers have just openly published a small study (not yet peer-reviewed) in which a nasal spray completely blocked the absorption of SARS-CoV-2, thus protecting ferrets on which it was tested.

Ferrets are used in research into respiratory diseases because, like humans, they can catch viruses through the nose.

In this case, according to a report in Die New York TimesThe spray was given to six ferrets who were then split into pairs and placed in three cages.

“Two ferrets who had been given a placebo spray and a ferret that had been intentionally infected with SARS-CoV-2 a day or two earlier also went into each cage.”

After 24 hours, none of the ferrets sprayed had contracted the disease. Anyone given a placebo was sick. “Virus replication has been completely blocked,” the authors wrote in an article that was submitted science.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada are working on a nasal spray vaccine that will flood healthy cells in the nasal cavity and lungs with virus-like particles that are harmless but have a structure similar to SARS-CoV-2. This enables the body to produce a localized immune response to the coronavirus-like appearance.

Melbourne-based biotech company Ena Respiratory is developing a novel nasal spray to boost the natural human immune system to fight colds and flu.

In September, the company announced in a study with ferrets that their treatment had significantly reduced the growth of the coronavirus.

In a press release, the company said that “the novel product INNA-051 … reduced virus replication by up to 96 percent in a gold standard animal study”.

But what’s the point of taking it up your nose?

Shi-Hua Xiang is an associate professor at the Nebraska Center for Virology of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences.
University of Nebraska.

Dr. Xiang is in the early stages of developing a bacterial delivery system for a COVID-19 nasal spray vaccine using bioengineered Lactobacillus – a safe, widespread bacterium found in yogurt and cheese – as the delivery system.

Dr. Xiang believes that targeted treatment of the mucosal tissues of the nose and mouth provides stronger protection against COVID-19 than an injected vaccine because it more closely mimics a natural COVID-19 infection and produces antibodies and immune cells where the virus kicks in one. ”

The advantage here is that “mucosal vaccines induce immunity at the time of virus entry and control the early infection before it becomes an established systemic infection.”

In other words, it hits the virus on the head before it has a chance to take over the body.

But what about chicken egg tests from Perth?

Dr. Daria Mochly-Rosen is President and Founder of SPARK GLOBAL, Co-Director and Founder of SPARK in Stanford, and Professor of Chemistry and Systems Biology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

In an email to The new daily newspaperWhen Dr. When Mochly-Rosen replied to questions, he agreed that “in the nose, the immune response is important … I also agree that injectable vaccines may not give the same local response as that triggered by the virus when it is localized in.” the nose are given. ”

SPARK GLOBAL is a network of academic institutions around the world using a translational research model developed at Stanford in 2006. The program relies on a large network of volunteer industry consultants to translate breakthrough academic discoveries into products that benefit patients and society.

The Phase 1 clinical trial in Perth in the linear clinical facility is a SPARK GLOBAL project – and essentially aims to provide cheap, short-term and immediate protection against the coronavirus.

It’s not a traditional vaccine like the Nebraska Project.

Dr. Mochly-Rosen said an “active vaccine is a very different approach than ours; The person being treated will require an immune response, which will take several weeks. it can cause local irritation; and its effectiveness should be compared to an injectable vaccine. ”

The SPARK GLOBAL project is a passive vaccine. “We are already giving test subjects active antibodies. It provides immediate protection, nasal irritation is unlikely to occur, and we have completed the animal welfare study and are currently conducting a human safety study. ”

On the other hand, when the antibodies are formulated into nasal drops, they can be “self-administered at home or on the go”.

While they may offer instant immunity, it won’t last long – wear off after about four hours.

Dr. Mochly-Rosen said the nasal drops won’t replace vaccines and measures like wearing face masks, social distancing and hand washing.

“But they could play an important role in people’s safety as the medical community and governments around the world pursue all options to end the pandemic,” she said.

After all, this is where the chickens come in

• To produce the antibodies, laying hens are first immunized with an important SARS-CoV-2 protein.
• The antibodies are passed on to the chicken eggs as IgY antibodies, extracted from the egg yolk and formulated into nasal drops.
• When administered, antibodies in the drops coat the surfaces in the nose and throat as a barrier against SARS-CoV-2.
• The use of chicken IgY antibodies has been shown to be safe and effective for several diseases. IgY are considered safe to humans when ingested and the chickens are never exposed to the virus itself.
• Because chickens are widespread around the world, they provide an abundant, inexpensive, and safe source of antibodies to the virus when immunized.

The study is expected to be completed in December 2020. Phase 2 trials will begin next year.