Antiviral effective in clinical trial for common cold

A pilot clinical trial examining Marinomed’s antiviral nasal spray, which contains carrageenan, has indicated that it is effective as a treatment against the common cold.

The study, which was conducted at the Common Cold and Nasal Research Centre, Cardiff University (UK), showed a reduction in symptoms, which was paralleled by strong antiviral activity.The trial was a double-blind placebo-controlled pilot trial involving 35 adult subjects suffering from the early symptoms of the common cold. Each subject received either a carrageenan-containing or a saline placebo nasal spray three times per day for four days.

At the end of the trial, those that had received the carrageenan nasal spray had significantly fewer cold symptoms (p = 0.046) and decreased viral load in nasal lavages (p = 0.009). The safety of the carrageenan nasal spray was also confirmed.

Dr Andreas Grassauer, CEO and co-founder of Marinomed, commented: ‘This remarkable treatment is the first demonstrably effective therapy that challenges the viral causes of the common cold. We are delighted with these positive clinical results, especially because this is the first product to emerge from our technology platform.’

The antiviral nasal spray using carrageenan is the first product based on Marinomed’s technology platform, mavirex. The nasal spray is currently marketed in Austria and was recently licensed to Boehringer Ingelheim for Europe, CIS and South America.