"... 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."
I actually have a series on the nasal passageway. It may be a bit outdated by now, but I will likely release the anthology this weekend. I didn't expect this week to take as much of my time as it did but hey, it's the holidays!
But of all the treatment options nasal sprays seem like a very good candidate. It's where most of the initial viral replication will occur and so stopping it right at the initial source would help a lot.
Be hesitant of phrases such as "effective against X variant". Heparin most likely will, but the issue is that this has essentially become a sales pitch type of tagline. Unlike vaccines and monoclonal antibodies that target the spike which is where plenty of mutations are occurring, other therapeutics will not see escape in the same manner.
The important thing when examining a drug is to see what its target is (the spike protein, the polymerase, or the protease), and see if this region has many mutations, and then see if any of those mutations may lead to escape from a drug. This is really unlikely to happen in most circumstances, so just be wary of such phrases and examine for yourself to see if the evidence makes sense.
Somewhat off-topic, but it is important:
"... 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."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-22/melbourne-researchers-trial-use-of-common-drug-to-combat-covid/100717224
I actually have a series on the nasal passageway. It may be a bit outdated by now, but I will likely release the anthology this weekend. I didn't expect this week to take as much of my time as it did but hey, it's the holidays!
But of all the treatment options nasal sprays seem like a very good candidate. It's where most of the initial viral replication will occur and so stopping it right at the initial source would help a lot.
Be hesitant of phrases such as "effective against X variant". Heparin most likely will, but the issue is that this has essentially become a sales pitch type of tagline. Unlike vaccines and monoclonal antibodies that target the spike which is where plenty of mutations are occurring, other therapeutics will not see escape in the same manner.
The important thing when examining a drug is to see what its target is (the spike protein, the polymerase, or the protease), and see if this region has many mutations, and then see if any of those mutations may lead to escape from a drug. This is really unlikely to happen in most circumstances, so just be wary of such phrases and examine for yourself to see if the evidence makes sense.