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Food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industry use carrageenans extensively as emulsifying and binding agent for products like ice cream, various gels, toothpaste and others. Carrageenans belong to a family of linear, sulfated polysaccharides which are found in some species of red seaweed. Carrageenans may represent such an option. Despite the enormous economic and social burden of common cold, an effective treatment is still not available.Īs common cold is caused by diverse viruses, an effective therapeutic substance should exhibit a broad antiviral capacity and should not lead to resistance formation. Although common cold is a self-limiting disease, the symptoms such as runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing, cough, sore throat, malaise and fever are troublesome, leading to more than 20 million doctor visits and 40 million lost school and work days per year. In the majority of cases common cold is caused by respiratory viruses such as rhinovirus, coronavirus, parainfluenza, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus, enterovirus and metapneumovirus. Children get four to eight upper respiratory infections per year and adults suffer from two to four episodes per year. For more information, please visit viral upper respiratory tract infection, also known as common cold, is the most frequently observed infectious disease in human beings. Amcyte’s pipeline includes cytokines and immunomodulators that enhance the activity of new cell therapy treatments as well as targets for orphan diseases with affordable and improved therapeutic profiles against existing treatments. The company has built strong partnerships with leading academic institutions and clinical groups to develop novel indications for its portfolio of products. The safety of Nasitrol has been well established and the product has been approved by The Administración Nacional de Medicamentos, Alimentos y Tecnología Médica of the Argentine Republic and commercialized by Laboratorio Pablo Cassara for the prevention of common cold for a decade.Īmcyte’s team has over 20 years of experience in cytokine and immunomodulator development and manufacturing.
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The Nasitrol formulation is designed to reduce the viral load in upper respiratory airways, preventing viruses from proliferating and spreading into the lungs. Iota-carrageenan is thought to exert antiviral activity through its interaction with the viral surface, preventing viral entry and capturing viral particles released by infected cells. The nasal cavity and the rhinopharynx are key sites of the initial replication of SARS-CoV-2. so that healthcare professionals, caregivers for COVID patients and other individuals who are at risk can benefit.” “We look forward to partnering and commercializing Nasitrol in the U.S. “This rigorous, placebo-controlled study provides evidence that the simple intervention of a nasal spray with iota-carrageenan, in addition to hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment and social distancing, could provide additional protection against transmission,” said Dr. Mónica Lombardo of the CEMIC University Hospital in Buenos Aires, and sponsored by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Argentina. Figueroa of The Cesar Milstein Research Institute in Argentina and Dr. There were no differences in the incidence of adverse events between the two groups. The incidence of COVID-19 infection was significantly lower in the Nasitrol group compared with placebo (1.0% vs 5.0%). The primary end point was clinical COVID-19 infection, as confirmed by reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction testing, over a period of 21 days. Study subjects were randomly assigned to receive four daily doses of Nasitrol spray or placebo for 21 days. The current study was conducted at 8 hospital ICUs with a sample of 394 clinically healthy physicians, nurses and other medical professionals who provided care to COVID patients and who had not yet been vaccinated against the disease. A previous study at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center found that the iota carrageenan formulation inhibits infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in cell culture in vitro. Nasitrol is a patented nasal spray based on iota carrageenan, a sulfate polysaccharide synthesized by red algae, with demonstrated antiviral activity and clinical efficacy as a nasal spray in the treatment of the common cold. through a licensing agreement from Laboratorio Pablo Cassara, an Argentinean pharma company leader in innovation.
#Iota carrageenan nasal spray trial
KIRKLAND, Wash.-( BUSINESS WIRE)-Amcyte Pharma, a Seattle-based company dedicated to the commercialization of immunomodulators, announced the results of an independent clinical trial among ICU staff suggesting that its product, Nasitrol TM nasal spray, represents a safe and effective treatment that could prevent transmission of COVID-19.
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