Trials begin for a COVID neutralizing nasal spray using the blood thinner Heparin.
As COVID began, my child-mind imagined a nasal spray made with soapy water. After all, soap dissembles the virus on my hands, why not coat my nasal passages with a protective soapy film?
Starting as far back as Summer 2020, reports started to appear about scientists screening candidates for a protective nasal spray.
Late this past December, Australian scientists announced they’ve begun a six month trial using Heparin as a prophylactic nasal spray. It will be given to household contacts of patients diagnosed COVID positive.
Heparin is one of the most commonly used drugs in the world, cheap, shelf-stable and well tolerated. Used as a spray it doesn't enter the blood stream but coats the nasal passage and prevents the virus from entering our cells.
The Heparin nasal spray would be used several times a day when some one will be in public and used in conjunction with vaccines and masks.
Below are several excerpts about Heparin, how it works to defeat COVID infection after exposure and the clinical trials begun in OZ.
September 16. 2020-
A team of researchers, including faculty from the University of Mississippi schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, are developing a treatment that could be effective at preventing COVID-19. The good news is that it’s something that you can easily carry in your bag.
The treatment would take the form of a nasal spray that could be prescribed by a doctor and self-administered. A daily dose of this spray could make those taking it more resistant to COVID-19.
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“Some viruses use a family of sugars known as heparan sulfate, which is present on the surface of pretty much every cell in your body, to stick to the surface of the cell,” Sharp said. “Once they’re stuck on that surface sugar layer, it’s easier for the virus to find the specific protein it uses to enter the cell.”
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The treatment uses heparin, a complex sugar that has been used as an anticoagulant for nearly 80 years, to block the virus from attaching to and entering cells. Heparin is closely related to heparan sulfate, a sugar that exists on the surface of cells and is used by many viruses to attach to the cells.
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news.olemiss.edu/...
May 25, 2021
Researchers from the University of Melbourne have observed that spraying heparin on epithelial cells stops SARS-CoV-2 to infect them, at least in vitro (that is, in a petri dish). If the heparin spray had the same effect in humans, a simple, cheap nasal spray could help prevent COVID-19 infection. The research team is setting up a clinical trial to find out.
Heparin is a molecule of the glycosaminoglycan family that sits on the surface of many of our cells, including nasal epithelial cells – the lining of the nose. It’s best known for its anticoagulant properties, but it fulfils many different functions in our body.
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Heparin is a negatively charged molecule and sits next to ACE2 – the receptor the SARS-CoV-2 spike hooks onto to enter human cells. SARS-CoV-2 spike is positively charged. Thus, heparin attracts the virus spike that can then roll off onto the ACE2 receptor and find its way into the cell to replicate, causing the infection.
Melbourne researchers grew nasal epithelial cells in the lab, added SARS-CoV-2 onto them and then flooded the media with heparin. They noticed that the heparin present in the media bound to the virus, preventing it from penetrating the cells. The heparin in the media provides an alternative binding site to the heparin on the cells’ surface and takes the virus away from the ACE2 receptors – preventing infection. “It’s competitive inhibition,” says Monagle.
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In another recent study, led by St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, researchers gave a hefty dose of heparin to adults in ICU with acute respiratory distress syndrome through a ventilator. The study revealed that heparin is not absorbed into the bloodstream when inhaled, reducing side-effects and avoiding the risk of bleeding that intravenous administration poses.
cosmosmagazine.com/...
Melbourne researchers trial use of common blood-thinning drug heparin to combat COVID-19
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Northern Health medical divisional director Don Campbell said he had a "crazy idea" that the blood-thinning drug heparin could stop the virus growing in cells. But it wasn't until his wife asked "well, what are you going to do about it?" that he got to work.
Nearly two years later, with the help of researchers at Melbourne, Monash and Oxford Universities, his team has been able to replicate international findings that heparin can block the transmission of COVID-19 and prevent infection.
The spray coats the nose but does not go down into the lungs. The researchers say it is cheap, easy to distribute and is expected to be effective against mutant strains of the virus including the Omicron variant.
"It won't matter if a new variant comes along, this drug will block that protein from infecting the cells," Professor Campbell said.
"I'm very confident that we can demonstrate that it will work, and people will be using this before they go to the shops and before they go to school."
Household contacts to be part of trial
The treatment has received $4.2 million from the Victorian government to undergo clinical trials.
Over the next six months, 340 Victorian households will be given the heparin nasal spray or a placebo, within hours of their household contact testing positive, to reduce transmission.
"The treatment will be given to household family contacts of the persons who get COVID, and we will also give it to the person who is infected," Professor Campbell said.
"We want to get to them within 24 hours of the diagnosis being known and we are confident we can do that."
www.abc.net.au/...
Nasal spray to fight COVID-19 heads to clinical trial
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“Basic science studies revealed that intranasal heparin may be an effective way to prevent COVID-19 infection and spread. COVID-19 first infects cells in the nose, and to do that the virus must bind to Heparan Sulphate on the surface of nasal cells lining the nose,” Professor Anderson said.
“Heparin - the active ingredient in our spray - has a structure that is very similar to Heparan Sulphate, so it behaves as a ‘decoy’ and can rapidly wrap around the virus’s spike protein like a python, preventing it from infecting you or spreading the virus to others.
"Importantly, this nasal spray should prove effective for all COVID-19 variants because the Heparan Sulphate binding site is essential for infection, and is likely to be preserved in new variants. Heparin binds avidly to the Omicron variant currently sweeping through the country.”
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“It is now essential that we test the actual effectiveness of Heparin in the rigorously designed, double blinded, placebo controlled clinical trial as this will provide definitive evidence. If the treatment is proven to work in the setting of preventing progression and spread within homes, it would support using the spray to protect highly vulnerable populations such as the elderly, pregnant women, and those with weak immune systems.
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The IntraNasal HEpaRin Trial (INHERIT) will be led by the Northern Hospital, using an innovative monitoring and treatment platform that allows researchers to access and remotely treat patients within 24 hours of their diagnosis, speeding up treatment and providing monitoring through portable oximeter devices that measure oxygen levels in blood.
about.unimelb.edu.au/...