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Starpharma’s (ASX:SPL) nasal spray outperforms competitors against Omicron variant

ASX News, Health Care
ASX:SPL      MCAP $49.44M
01 March 2022 13:51 (AEST)
Starpharma (ASX:SPL) - CEO, Dr Jackie Fairley

Source: Starpharma

Starpharma’s (SPL) antiviral nasal spray has achieved a greater than 99.5 per cent reduction of virus infectivity against the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.

The antiviral agent in the VIRALEZE antiviral nasal spray achieved the maximum possible reduction of virus infectivity against Omicron in a lab-based antiviral and virucidal assay.

VIRALEZE is an antiviral nasal spray which provides a physical barrier to trap and inactivate viruses, including SARS-CoV-2.

During assays conducted at the Scripps Research Institute in the US, the activity of SPL7013 against the Omicron variant outperformed other agents used in antiviral nasal sprays including iota-carrageenan and heparin.

SPL7013 was proven to be around 30 times more potent than iota-carrageenan against the Omicron variant, which is currently found in multiple marketed nasal sprays.

This activity of SPL7013 against the Omicron variant is consistent with the antiviral and virucidal activity demonstrated against multiple other variants of SARS-CoV-2, including the Delta, Alpha, Beta and Gamma ‘Variants of Concern.’

“… it appears that SPL7013 is even better able to block the more highly infectious variants than the early variants of SARS-CoV-2,” said Professor Philippe Gallay from The Scripps Research Institute.

“This effect appears to be due to the mechanism of action of SPL7013 that involves interaction with multiple regions of the virus spike protein.”

Starpharma CEO Jackie Fairley said the company is pleased with the results.

“The high level of activity against Omicron is entirely consistent with previous data for SPL7013, which has shown antiviral and virucidal activity in multiple viruses,” said Dr Fairley.

“This new data further illustrates SPL7013’s breadth of activity and the potential real-world benefits of VIRALEZE.”

VIRALEZE is currently registered in more than 30 countries and is available online.

Starpharma was up 3.13, trading at 90.8 cents at 1:50 pm AEDT.

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