A twice-daily nasal spray could neutralise the flu upon the contract, preventing most infections. That’s according to a new study published this month in Science Translational Medicine.
The treatment, currently known only as CR9114, is a monoclonal antibody treatment. In other words, it works thanks to synthesis of a precise antibody, in this case targeting the influenza virus, which is put directly into the body.
Antibody therapies have for decades been used against cancer and more recently against COVID. The innovation with this product – made by a Dutch biotech company – is the combination with a nasal spray, so that the influenza virus can be neutralised before it even enters the bloodstream.
In the study, the spray showed a half-life in the nose of 3 hours. The study authors suggested this implies twice-daily use would be the most effective method. That being said, users may wish to only use the spray when physically present in high-risk contexts: offices, public transport, shopping centres, etc.
The innovation is the latest in a string of developments that originated with the massive investments in infectious disease research during the COVID years.
Antibody treatments – where the patient’s body is flooded with antibodies via IV – became a front-line treatment for COVID patients in emergency care. The treatment was a tremendous breakthrough in COVID care, with one study showing an 86% reduction in death among treated patients and just a 0.2% rate of adverse side effects.
However, the massive spread and rapid evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus changed the scenario. The antibodies designed in 2020 and 2021 are no longer effective against the main varieties. Front-line treatment for COVID has been taken over by Paxlovid, which disrupts a protein processing mechanism that is common to all SARS-CoV-2 varieties.
The authors of this new study claim, similarly, to have found a common mechanism for disrupting the influenza virus, regardless of the differences in strains that currently have us going back for a new flu vaccine shot each year.
The downside, however, is that with the drug development pipeline being what it is, it could be five years at least before the anti-flu nasal spray is on the shelves.
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