Anti-COVID Nasal Spray May Give Short-Term Protection From The Disease & Strains

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Latest in a string of innovations born in an effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is a nasal spray which claims to be able to provide protection from the disease and its strains. 

Developed by researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland, the spray is able to provide protection “for at least eight hours even in cases of high-exposure risk,” which starts immediately after administration. 

A paper has been published on the subject, although it has, at time of writing, not been peer-reviewed yet. 

This nasal spray contains a new molecule called TriSb92, based on a Finnish technological solution designed to target biological drugs, per a news release by the university. 

“Targeting this inhibitory effect of the TriSb92 molecule to a site of the coronavirus spike protein common to all variants of the virus makes it possible to effectively inhibit the ability of all known variants, Omicron included, to infect people,” Anna Mäkelä, first author of the study, explains.

Apart from providing quick short-term protection, Finnish news outlet YLE reports that there’s also the potential for the spray to be used as a type of booster for those who are already vaccinated against the virus. 

It is, however, not meant to replace vaccines, study co-author Kalle Saksela explains to Gizmodo. It’s meant to “complement” it by providing an additional layer of protection, especially for immunocompromised people. 

“This technology is cheap and highly manufacturable, and the inhibitor works equally well against all variants,” he explains. “It works also against the now-extinct SARS virus, so it might well also serve as an emergency measure against possible new coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-3 and -4).”

Although promising, the spray has yet to reach clinical trial stage and will undoubtedly take some time to reach the market as well. 

[via Gizmodo and YLE, image via Shutterstock]