Recent research has found that high-risk patients who received a nasal spray named NONS had a significant reduction in viral load within 24 hours, which was sustained over seven days of treatment.
Even as the global medical community continues to look for ways to cure and prevent Covid-19, a Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company has tested a nasal spray that has shown to effectively cure Covid-19 within 24-48 hours of administration. The study was conducted on high-risk, adult Covid patients in the country and the researchers found that the nasal spray managed to reduce the viral load by 94 percent in 24 hours and 99 per cent in 48 hours.
The magic spray is called the Nitric Oxide Nasal Spray (NONS) and has been developed by the native pharma brand Glenmark. The Phase 3 trial results of the drug were published in The Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia journal.
Under the study, 306 vaccinated and unvaccinated adults with symptomatic mild Covid-19 across 20 clinical sites in India were tested during the Delta and Omicron surges.
The trial evaluated a seven-day treatment of NONS plus standard of care versus placebo nasal spray and standard care in patients with symptomatic Covid-19. NONS was self-administered six times daily as two sprays per nostril for seven days.
The research found that high-risk patients who received NONS had a significant reduction in viral load within 24 hours, which was sustained over seven days of treatment.
Viral load was reduced by 93.7 percent within 24 hours and by 99 percent within 48 hours of treatment with NONS. Similar results were observed in vaccinated and unvaccinated populations, the authors said.
The nasal treatment has the potential to make a crucial contribution to Covid-19 management, with its ease of use in the current highly transmissible phase of pandemic.
Nitric Oxide blocks entry into the nasal passage kills the virus, and stops its replication, which is why viral load is reduced so rapidly with NONS. The median time to viral cure was three days in the NONS group and seven days in the placebo group after the start of the treatment, it said.
The proportion of immediate contacts having a positive COVID-19 test or becoming symptomatic, remained nearly the same in the NONS group while it numerically increased in the placebo group over the treatment, the authors added.
NONS was launched in India under the brand name FabiSpray in February after it received manufacturing and marketing approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) as part of the accelerated approval process.
(With inputs from PTI)