Nasal spray market heats up as Covid-19 curbs ease, people return to work

Glenmark launches 1st commercially available spray, smaller firms to follow

As Covid-19 restrictions ease and people return to work, drug firms see an opportunity in both the over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription space for germ-killing nasal sprays. While big firms like Glenmark have come up with products like nitric oxide nasal sprays, smaller ones like Strassenburg too have launched ayurvedic nasal and mouth-spray combinations.

On Wednesday, Mumbai-headquartered Glenmark launched nitric oxide nasal spray (NONS), under the brand name FabiSpray, for treating adult Covid-19 patients. NONS is designed to kill the coronavirus in the upper airways, preventing it from incubating and spreading to the lungs.

The spray’s phase-3 trial in India demonstrated a 94 per cent reduction in viral load in 24 hours, and 99 per cent in 48 hours. NONS has been developed by Canadian drug firm SaNOtize.

Monika Tandon, senior vice-president and head — clinical development, Glen­mark Pharmaceuticals, said: “As per studies conducted in the Utah State University, USA, NONS is proven to kill 99.9 per cent of SARS-Cov-2 virus including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon variants within two minutes.” She feels there is a huge opportunity and potential for FabiSpray with new variants likely to emerge.

A clinical trial of over 4,000 people is underway in Canada (by SaNOtize) to see if this drug also works in preventing Covid-19. If trials show that it does indeed work in prevention, there could be several uses of such sprays — especially with schools, colleges, offices, and public transport reopening.

Others firms like Cipla had launched a nasal spray based on povidone iodine that has anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties that can offer protection agai­nst viruses and other germs that cause common upper respiratory tract illnesses like, cold, sinusitis or flu. ITC is conducting clinical trials for one nasal spray product in India.

Not just big pharma firms, smaller players like Kolkata-based Strassenburg, too, have jumped onto the bandwagon.

Along with US-based Palani LLC, Strassenburg has launched a nasal and mouth spray combination that destroys the lipid membranes of viruses in the nasal and mouth cavity, called ErasaVir. The company claims that it works against all variants and mutations for the Sars-CoV-2, influenza and other enveloped viruses since it attacks the lipid membrane that never mutates. When the lipid membrane breaks, the virus is inactivated (destroyed, killed).

“Just like we wash our hands with soap to kill Sars-CoV-2, ErasaVir acts in the same way,” quips Darpan Roy Chowdhury, co-founder and COO at Palani LLC and head of business development of Strassenburg.

He said the firm spent 22 months on research to develop this formulation, whose ingredients are categorised as GRAS (Generally Recognised as Safe) by the USFDA. The active ingredients are natural plant extracts.

“ErasaVir is safe for everyone to use daily. Efficacy studies of various candidates against SARS-CoV-2 were conducted in a United Nations-affiliated BSL-3 lab. In December we released ErasaVir’s first set of products,” he added.

Analysts say the market for such nasal sprays that have an anti-microbial action on the nasal mucosa is not known as it’s very nascent. “Such products will find traction with Covid-19 restrictions being lifted, and we will have a clearer picture in the next two to three quarters,” said a Mumbai-based analyst.