喜讯！抗击COVID-19的鼻喷剂即将进入临床试验

Introduction: Heparin is a widely used blood-thinning drug used to treat or prevent blood clots. Researchers have confirmed that heparin can be used as a home nasal spray to treat COVID-19.

The University of Melbourne and Monash University received $4.2 million, led by Northern Hospital, in partnership with the University of Oxford, to conduct a six-month clinical trial. Melbourne biomedical researchers will test a home nasal spray to treat COVID-19.

Professor Gary Anderson, director of the Center for Lung Health Research at the University of Melbourne, said the spray was easy to use, spraying twice into each nostril, three times a day.

Professor Anderson said: "Basic scientific research shows that intranasal heparin may be an effective way to prevent COVID-19 infection and transmission. COVID-19 first infects cells in the nasal cavity, and for this the virus must bind to heparan sulfate on the surface of cells in the nasal cavity."

The structure of heparin (the active ingredient in this nasal spray) is very similar to heparan sulfate, so it acts like a 'bait' that quickly coats the virus's spike protein like a python, preventing you from becoming infected or spreading the virus to others.

Importantly, this nasal spray should prove effective against all COVID-19 variants, as the heparan sulfate binding site is critical for infection and is likely to be retained in new variants. Heparin binds closely to the Omicron variant currently sweeping the world.

We must now test the actual utility of heparin in rigorously designed, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials, as this will provide clear evidence. If the treatment proves effective in preventing disease progression and intra-household transmission, it would support the use of the nasal spray to protect highly vulnerable groups such as the elderly, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems.

This will also help protect frontline health care workers from the impact of the disease and maintain the capacity of the health care system. It must be emphasized that heparin will be used on the basis of COVID-19 vaccination and will not replace the COVID-19 vaccine.

The IntraNasal HEpaRin Trial (INHERIT) will be led by Northern Hospital and will use an innovative monitoring and treatment platform that will allow researchers to visit and treat patients remotely within 24 hours of diagnosis, expediting treatment and providing monitoring via a portable oximeter device (which measures the amount of oxygen in the blood).

Don Campbell, Northern Health's director of medicine, who opened the innovation, believes the blood-thinning drug heparin could stop the virus from growing in cells in the early months of the pandemic.

With help from researchers at the University of Melbourne, Monash University and the University of Oxford, the team has demonstrated that heparin can block the spread of COVID-19 and prevent infection, providing a pathway for clinical trials.

The clinical trial is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2022.

References:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-12-nasal-covid-clinical-trial.html