Canadian Biotech Company’s Nasal Spray Could Provide Important Breakthrough In Covid-19 Treatment; Clinical Trials In Canada And UK Show Encouraging Results

Canadian biotech company SaNOtize Research & Development Corp (SaNOtize) has developed nitric oxide nasal spray (NONS). It can protect people from viruses that enter the body through the upper nasal pathways.

According to the trial findings, this could help the world to fight the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

According to SaNOtize Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Surrey and Berkshire and Surrey Pathology Services in the United Kingdom (UK), the clinical trials of NONS have shown that the anti-viral nasal spray is safe and an effective treatment.

It was also found that NONS could prevent the transmission of Covid-19, shorten its course, as well as reduce the severity of coronavirus infection symptoms and damage in those already infected.

New Zealand and Israel have given interim approval for the sale of NONS.

The manufacturing process of NONS, under the brand name Enovid, has begun in Israel.

Meanwhile, according to a March report, in New Zealand, the Vancouver-based company has registered the NONS "with the New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority, which permits the company to distribute and sell NONS over the counter".

NONS is the only therapeutic treatment that is proven to reduce the viral load in people so far. It is not a monoclonal antibody treatment that is expensive, highly specific and must be given intravenously in a clinical setting.

A Breakthrough Treatment For Covid-19

As per a placebo-controlled Phase 2 trial results, it was found that SaNOtize’s early treatment for the coronavirus caused disease has reduced the level of the virus, including in infected patients with high viral loads.

In the first 24 hours, the average viral log reduction was 1.362, which means a decline of about 95 per cent.

Later, researchers found that the viral load dropped by more than 99 per cent within 72 hours.

The majority of these people who were involved in the trial programme had been affected by the coronavirus variant found in the UK, dubbed B.1.1.7.

However, the researchers found no adverse health effects during the trial in the UK.

In more than 7,000 self-administered treatments given in Canadian clinical trials, researchers reported no concerning health issues.

According to Dr Stephen Winchester, Consultant Medical Virologist and Chief Investigator of this NHS Clinical Trial, the therapeutic treatment could be a major advance in the battle against the pandemic.

Dr Winchester believes that this simple portable nasal spray — based on nitric oxide (NO) — could be highly effective in Covid-19 treatment and reduce onward virus transmission.

“Simply stated, I think this could be revolutionary,” said the healthcare professional.

NONS is designed to kill the virus and can prevent it from invading, as well as spreading to the lungs.

Dr Gilly Regev, CEO and co-founder of SaNOtize said: “Now that NONS has been demonstrated to be safe and effective in clinical trials, we must move with the urgency to get it into the hands of the public where it can help bring an end to the pandemic, accelerate a return to normality, and prevent future outbreaks of Covid-19 and its variants.”

SaNOtize has applied for the emergency use authorisation to the regulatory authorities in the UK and Canada.

Along with the currently available Covid-19 vaccines, the use of this therapeutic treatment could facilitate an almost immediate safe return to work, as well as school and bring some sort of normalcy to society.