A team of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have developed a nasal spray that can ward off the coronavirus, The Sacramento Bee reported. The treatment wouldn’t require a prescription and could be sold over the counter.
AeroNabs, as the product is being called, is not being touted as a cure; indeed, no cure for COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, exists. Rather, the nasal spray is purportedly a preventative.
Specifically, says the lead researcher, UCSF graduate student Michael Schoof, the team developed a synthetic molecule that operates as a potent antiviral that blocks SARS-CoV-2 — the pathogen colloquially referred to as the “novel coronavirus” — from taking hold within the body.
Schoof and his partner, AeroNabs co-inventor Peter Walter, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF, were inspired by nanobodies, proteins similar to antibodies (found in humans) that occur naturally in llamas, camels and related animals.
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