LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The University of Louisville is developing a nasal spray to protect against COVID-19.
The nasal spray would be used once a day to prevent viral respiratory infections like COVID-19, using Q-Griffithsin, a drug compound developed and co-owned by UofL.
"It has a very broad capacity to protect people, and that could be very valuable for the next pandemic, for certain situations," said Dr. Joshua Fuqua of UofL Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
The spray would be for frontline healthcare workers, the military, essential workers and even the general public when the vaccine might not be fully effective.
"You can almost think about it like a mask that you don't wear kind of thing. So you spray it up your nose, it's going to coat the inside of your nose, if you're exposed to the virus, it can't infect you as well," said Dr. Fuqua.
The next step could be using it after exposure and before becoming symptomatic to reduce symptoms.
The school received $8.5 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to make the research possible.
The one-year project includes developing the product, testing and Phase 1 of a clinical trial.
The spray could be available by the end of next year.
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