@Hip, is the link to this product "Enovid" from the Israeli pharmacy the same product as "SaNOtize" (the one that kangaSue posted in the first post of this thread)? Also, @Hip are you thinking of trying this product?
SaNOtize appears to be the company, and the
Enovid COVID nasal spray is one of their products.
Enovid's anti-coronavirus effects look impressive: a
double-blind placebo-controlled phase II clinic trial conducted in the UK found that in COVID patients who were already showing symptoms, the spray reduced the viral load by 20 times after 24 hours, and reduced viral levels by 100 times after 72 hours.
That seems to be a large reduction in viral load. Having a spray like this in the cupboard as an emergency treatment if you did get COVID seems like a good idea. It works even once you have already developed COVID.
It could also be used to prevent COVID if you had a high risk exposure, like a visit to a busy indoor restaurant.
There is no data showing that Enovid reduces the chances of hospitalization or death from COVID, but such data would only be obtained from a much larger scale clinical trial.
The sodium nitrite found in Enovid (which incidentally is a preservative found in sausages, bacon and ham) is not itself a carcinogen, but can create carcinogens when it reacts with chemicals in food under the acidic conditions of the stomach. That's why cured meats are slightly carcinogenic. But there would be no carcinogen concern with nasal use.
This sodium nitrite in Enovid reacts with the citric acid in the spray to form nitric oxide (NO), a potently antiviral substance (NO is also naturally produced in the body and in the nasal cavity to fight pathogens).
As far as I can make out, the clever thing about this nasal spray is the use of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), which I had not heard of before, but I think it is being employed as a drug slow release mechanism (
here is a study focusing on the slow drug release properties of HPMC). My guess is HPMC stops the sodium nitrite from reacting with the citric acid in the spray bottle, and the facilities a slow controlled reaction of these two ingredients to create NO in the nose once the spray is administered.
There would need to be some agent in the nasal spray bottle to stop the sodium nitrite from reacting with the citric acid, otherwise the NO will be created in the bottle, and the ingredients would be used up before they have a chance to get to your nose.
There are also other
antiviral nasal sprays on the market:
VIRALEZE by Starpharma costs £15 and contains the antiviral astodrimer sodium. It has not been though human clinical trials, and the efficacy of astodrimer sodium against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has only been demonstrated in vitro.
Taffix by Israel-based Nasus Pharma costs $56 for four, and appears to create a barrier against viruses, rather than have antiviral effects:
“Taffix is a powder that when it is inhaled covers the nasal passages to create a protective layer around the cells so that the virus cannot reach the receptors cells in the nose.”
Ref:
here
So Taffix is I think a spray you would have to use several times daily to prevent coronavirus infection. But it is not clear if it would help once you have caught coronavirus. One
observational study suggested it does have COVID preventative effects if used daily.
Taffix uses the same hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) found in Enovid, but I believe in this case the HPMC is being employed as the protective barrier.
ViroStop by Herb-pharma AG costs £14, and contains a special extract obtained from Cistus creticus. It works by creating a protective barrier against viruses.