– VIRALEZE™ nasal spray protects against highly infectious Omicron in a viral challenge model: before or after viral exposure
Melbourne, Australia, July 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Starpharma’s VIRALEZE™ Broad Spectrum Nasal Spray demonstrated protection against infection with the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in a strict viral challenge model.
VIRALEZE™ is a broad-spectrum nasal spray, developed by Melbourne biotech company Starpharma, for application to the nasal cavity to reduce exposure to the virus. VIRALEZE™ is registered in over 30 countries, including Europe and the UK, where it is marketed by LloydsPharmacy.
Challenge models are often used in viral diseases to assess a product’s ability to treat or prevent infection.
In this study, conducted by Scripps Research in the United States, 100% of animals treated with VIRALEZE™ before and after challenge with Omicron virus had no detectable virus in the lungs, trachea or nasal cavity for up to four days after exposure.
VIRALEZE™ was also highly effective even when used alone after viral challenge: animals treated with VIRALEZE™ alone after viral challenge had >99.999% reduction in viral load in the lungs and trachea, compared to animals treated with saline on the seventh day. This finding is important because it suggests that even when VIRALEZE™ is used after exposure to the virus (for example, forgetting to use the spray before exposure in a high-risk situation), it has the potential to provide benefit significant.
These impressive results for VIRALEZE™ were in contrast to the saline-treated animals, in which 100% had high levels of virus detected in the lungs, trachea and nasal cavity as early as two days after challenge.
Doctor Jackie FairleyCEO of Starpharma, said:
“Countries around the world are under significant pressure on their healthcare systems as a result of Omicron outbreaks. VIRALEZE™ represents an additional tool to use with vaccines in these difficult times.
These new data provide further in vivo validation that VIRALEZE™ is highly effective at trapping and blocking virus in the nasal cavity and suggests that VIRALEZE™ could be used to help protect against viral respiratory infections, including multiple variants of SARS -CoV-2, and potentially as post-exposure prophylaxis to reduce the severity of viral respiratory illnesses.
VIRALEZE™ also has a potential role in preparing for future pandemics given that SPL7013 in VIRALEZE™ has been shown to very effectively block a broad spectrum of respiratory viruses, including viruses that cause pandemics such as the multiple variants of SARS-CoV-two, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, flu A and B there respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in vitro.
For more information, visit www.starpharma.com