Nasal spray, developed by Bangladesh, promises to ‘kill’ coronavirus

Bangladesh Reference Institute for Chemical Measurements or BRICM has invented a nasal spray to kill coronavirus in the upper respiratory tract.

The Bangasafe Oro-Nasal Spray has proven safe, effective and helpful in reducing the viral load in a small trial, according to the government institute.

It reported about the trial on 200 COVID-19 patients at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital in May to the parliamentary standing committee on the science and technology ministry on Tuesday.

Md Habibe Millat, a member of the committee, said it asked the institute to conduct more clinical trials and get approvals from Bangladesh Medical Research Council and Health Services Division.

“So far we know, the virus attacks through mouth, eyes and nose and stays in these organs for some time. If sprayed after 3-4 hours, our solution can eliminate the virus in the nose, nasal cavity, oral cavity and those at the joint of respiratory digestive tracts,” said Dr Mala Khan, acting director general of BRICM.

She highlighted two benefits of the spray – it can kill the virus in close contacts of COVID-19 patients and reduce the viral load of the patients.

She described the results from the trial as “promising”. Now the institute will apply for BMRC approval.

This was the first time a nasal spray against the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, underwent human trial in the world, Mala claimed. France held a trial on a similar spray on five people only after the Bangladeshi institute conducted its trial, she added.

She also said BRICM has applied for the spray’s patent locally and was preparing to get it patented internationally in Singapore.

Professor Nazrul Islam, a virologist working as a member of the national technical advisory committee on COVID-19, said he had heard about the work on the spray earlier.

He called for release of more details of the spray for expert evaluation.