US scientists developing nasal spray to prevent Covid-19 | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
September 21, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2023
US scientists developing nasal spray to prevent Covid-19

Coronavirus chronicle

BSS/AFP
02 December, 2020, 03:15 pm
Last modified: 02 December, 2020, 04:53 pm

Related News

  • Bangladesh reports 32 more Covid-19 cases
  • Point of no return: Australians fight for the right to work from home permanently
  • Bangladesh reports 83 more Covid-19 cases
  • If you never got sick from Covid, thank your genes
  • Bangladesh reports one more Covid-19 death, 36 cases in 24hrs

US scientists developing nasal spray to prevent Covid-19

The idea is to use a weakened virus as a delivery truck to carry genetic instructions to cells within the nose and the throat, which will in turn create powerful antibodies to stop SARS-CoV-2 from invading our bodies

BSS/AFP
02 December, 2020, 03:15 pm
Last modified: 02 December, 2020, 04:53 pm
Photo: Collected
Photo: Collected

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania and the biotech firm Regeneron are investigating whether technology developed for gene therapy can be used to make a nasal spray that will prevent infection with the new coronavirus.

The idea is to use a weakened virus as a delivery truck to carry genetic instructions to cells within the nose and the throat, which will in turn create powerful antibodies to stop SARS-CoV-2 from invading our bodies.

"The advantage of our approach is that you don't need a competent immune system for this to be effective," James Wilson, a professor of medicine at Penn who is leading the project told AFP.

The technology is currently being tested in animals and Wilson believes that, if successful, it could provide people with around six months of protection from a single dose, sprayed up the nose, and therefore complement vaccines that could soon be approved.

Wilson is a pioneer of gene therapy — delivering genetic code into a patient's cells to correct for defects and treat disease.

His research team discovered that the Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) group of viruses, which infect both humans and other primates but aren't known to cause disease, can be engineered to ferry healthy DNA into cells.

This approach led in 2019 to the approval of Zolgensma, the first drug for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, and today AAVs are being investigated for dozens of more possible applications.

Wilson was contacted by the US government in February to see if he and his lab could use the technology against Covid-19.

But it wasn't until Regeneron developed two promising lab-made antibodies against the coronavirus, which bind to a surface protein of the pathogen and stop it from invading our cells, that his team could move ahead.

Regeneron's antibodies are themselves in clinical testing but have received emergency approval for patients with mild or moderate Covid-19 who are at high-risk of getting severe disease — and were notably used recently to treat President Donald Trump.

Researchers are hoping that the nasal spray could be squirted through the nostrils, enter nasal epithelial cells, and hijack their protein-making machinery so that they make Regeneron's antibodies.

Normally, only immune cells create antibodies, which makes the new idea a particularly innovative approach.

Since the coronavirus enters the lungs through the nasal passage, the spray could halt the infection in its tracks.

What's more, AAVs cause only a mild immune response so the side effects could be less severe than the frontrunner vaccines, which work by training the immune system to recognize a key protein of the virus.

Penn and Regeneron hope to complete their animal studies by January, before applying to the Food and Drug Administration to begin human trials.

Top News

Coronavirus / Coronavirus Pandemic / Covid -19 / Covid-19 treatment / nasal spray

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • European Union flags fly outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium September 19, 2019/ Reuters
    EU isn't sending full team of observers for next JS polls
  • Representational image. Photo: Collected
    Govt now gives permission to import 6 crore eggs
  • Infograph: TBS
    Poor treatment, saline shortage add to dengue patients’ woes outside Dhaka

MOST VIEWED

  • Covid is no longer global health emergency: WHO
    Covid is no longer global health emergency: WHO
  • Federal police officers stand guard near the house of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, during a search operation at his home, in Brasilia, Brazil, 3 May, 2023. REUTERS/Adriano Machado
    Bolsonaro home raided, phone seized in Brazil vaccine records probe
  • World Health Organization logo is reflected in a drop on a syringe needle in this illustration photo taken March 16, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo
    Covid here to stay but moving out of emergency phase: WHO
  • India's active case count now stands at 3.90 per cent. ( HT file Photo)
    India reports 12,591 new Covid cases today, 20% more than yesterday
  • People queue up outside a quick test centre to take their coronavirus disease (Covid-19) antigen rapid tests, in Singapore September 21, 2021. Photo :Reuters
    Singapore witnesses new Covid wave: ‘Cases are mostly mild’
  • India's active case count now stands at 3.90 per cent. ( HT file Photo)
    India logs 5,676 new Covid cases, active infections cross 37,000-mark

Related News

  • Bangladesh reports 32 more Covid-19 cases
  • Point of no return: Australians fight for the right to work from home permanently
  • Bangladesh reports 83 more Covid-19 cases
  • If you never got sick from Covid, thank your genes
  • Bangladesh reports one more Covid-19 death, 36 cases in 24hrs

Features

Mountain gorillas are vulnerable species, only found in the willderness. Photo: Muntasir Akash

Against all odds: My encounters with mountain gorillas in Rwanda

2h | Earth
Photo: Saqlain Rizve

The quiet afterglow of Dhaka's overhead water tanks

7h | Panorama
Photo: Shovy Zibran

Maachh-bhaat for the soul: How Mariam nourishes hearts on the streets of Dhaka

23h | Panorama
Team Bored Tunnelers is a cross-institutional team consisting of six board members: (from let to right) Talha Zubair, Shaekh Mohammad Shithil, Fahin Uddin, Imran Khan, Shahriar Iqbal Mahim and Sibly Noman. Photo: Courtesy

Meet the Bangladesh team in Elon Musk's Not-a-Boring Competition finals

1d | Pursuit

More Videos from TBS

Bank deposits increased by Tk 74,000 crore in April-June

Bank deposits increased by Tk 74,000 crore in April-June

2h | TBS Economy
Truefitt & Hill Bangladesh: From Buckingham Palace to Gulshan

Truefitt & Hill Bangladesh: From Buckingham Palace to Gulshan

3h | TBS Stories
Iran's disabled painter Fatemeh finally meets Cristiano Ronaldo

Iran's disabled painter Fatemeh finally meets Cristiano Ronaldo

4h | TBS SPORTS
Why are Japanese women unwilling to have children?

Why are Japanese women unwilling to have children?

5h | TBS World
EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]