Nasal spray, which is useful for corona treatment, will soon be available in India. Indian company Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has tied up with Canadian company Sanotize Research and Development Corporation on Monday, which makes spray. Apart from India, the company will now work to supply spray to many countries of Asia including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Nepal, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Sri Lanka.
The company’s managing director Glen Saldanha said that this would reduce the pressure of infection on the countries of Asia. He said that our company will take care that the spray can be supplied all over Asia as soon as possible.
Sanotize, a biotech company based in Vancouver, Canada, has developed this nitric oxide nasal spray (NONS). This spray is to be administered by the patients themselves in their nose and it reduces the viral load in the nose itself. Due to this, neither the virus is able to grow nor can it harm the lungs.
• Its trials have been done in Canada and UK. In Phase II clinical trials on 79 infected people, this nasal spray reduced viral load by 95% within 24 hours and by 99% within 72 hours. The good thing is that it has proved effective against the UK variant of Corona as well.
During Phase II clinical trials in Canada, 103 people were sprayed in the nose. No one turned out to be Covid-19 positive. The UK Phase II NHS clinical trials involved 70 people. All were Covid-19 infected. Others in the study had a viral load 16 times higher than those who were sprayed in their nose. Earlier in the trials conducted in Canada, 7,000 patients were tested. None of the patients experienced serious side effects.
Israel and New Zealand have approved this spray for treatment. The company started production of the spray in Israel last month. Dr. Gili Regev, CEO and co-founder of Sanotize, had said that they are looking for partners in India and expect the spray to be approved as a medical device in India.
Sanotize wants to conduct Phase-3 trials with 4-5 thousand people. According to Regev, some part of Phase-3 trials may also take place in India. They are looking for funding for this. As soon as funding is received, the company will be able to go ahead and conduct trials in India.