Antiviral spray could soon be sold in Israel and New Zealand
Israel and New Zealand granted interim approval for the sale of a nitric oxide nasal spray that could prevent transmission of the coronavirus, its manufacturer said.
Canadian biotech firm SaNOtize Research and Development said on Monday it had begun making the product, under the brand name Enovid, in Israel with partner Nextar
Chempharma Solutions. It said it expected the spray to go on sale there this summer.
Chris Miller, chief science officer at SaNOtize, said the formulation of nitric oxide was designed to “kill viruses in the upper airways, preventing them from incubating and spreading to the lungs”.
If widely adopted and proven effective through public use, the drug will be another useful tool in the anti-Covid inventory of two of the countries that responded to the pandemic most effectively.
SaNOtize, which is based in Vancouver, said it had registered the drug with New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority, known as Medsafe, which permitted it to distribute the product and sell it over the counter immediately.
But the country’s health ministry said Enovid had not been approved for use as an antiviral nasal spray.
The approval referred to by SaNOtize may relate to a notification made to Medsafe’s database, on which details of medical devices for supply in New Zealand must be submitted.
This is not an application or approval process, the country’s health ministry said yesterday.
“The presence of an entry on this database does not confirm or imply that the product meets the requirements of the Medicines Act 1981,” it said.
Last week, SaNOtize and Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Surrey, UK, announced results of clinical trials showing the spray was an effective antiviral treatment that could prevent transmission of the virus that causes Covid-19, shorten its course and reduce the severity of symptoms and damage in those already infected.