The University of Louisville continues to lead the way in the fight against COVID-19.
On Tuesday, the university announced an $8.5 million grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, to research a preventative antiviral nasal spray.
“It’s very exciting to be in the right place at the right time and have the right skills to work on this,” Kenneth E. Palmer, Ph.D. said.
Palmer, the director of the UofL Center for Predictive Medicine for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, is leading the one-year project, known as PREVENT-CoV. The project includes developing the spray, testing the formulation in lab studies and conducting a Phase I clinical trial.
Palmer and his team expect the spray to be used to protect front-line health care workers, military personnel living in close quarters and other essential workers, as well as vulnerable people for whom a vaccine might not be fully protective. Recipients will administer one spray in each nostril once a day, to prevent infection.
“This is our mission,” Palmer said. “It’s completely in the sweet spot of our mission, and we are happy to have the facilities, the expertise, the training, the support to be able to do it.”
The spray contains Q-Griffithsin, an antiviral protein developed and co-owned by UofL that Palmer said can work against multiple coronaviruses, including COVID-19. Palmer told WAVE 3 News a nasal spray is crucial because it blocks the replication of the virus where it’s most-often first contracted, in the nasopharynx.
“The virus that replicates in the nose is the virus that seeds infection in the lungs,” Palmer said. “And so if we can prevent the virus replicating in the nose, we should really do a lot to stop the disease in the lungs.”
Palmer said the nasal spray is different from a vaccine, in that it does not elicit an immune response, and is effective immediately upon use.
With positive results, the researchers would seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization, a step Palmer believes could happen as soon as the end of 2021.
“It really has been a team effort and a huge privilege to be able to do that, because we think we have one of the solutions that could help in the longer term,” Palmer said.