The Phase I clinical trial of a peptide drug against COVID-19, the HY3000 nasal spray, was officially launched Saturday in Shenzhen, DT News reported.
“The COVID-19 virus enters the body mainly via the respiratory tract. The medicine could be sprayed into people’s noses to prevent COVID-19 illness prior to exposure, which will make the HY3000 nasal spray promising,” Lu Hongzhou, director of the Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen, explained the peptide nasal spray’s mechanism at the meeting.
The COVID-19 drug candidate was jointly developed by Shenzhen-based Hybio Pharmaceutical Co. and the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Its clinical study was just approved by the National Medical Products Administration seven working days ago.
The Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen will be responsible for the clinical trials of the HY3000 nasal spray.
Gao Fu, a CAS academician and a professor at the Institute of Microbiology, CAS, delivered a speech at the ceremony.
Gao emphasized that given the current ongoing pandemic, Hybio Pharmaceutical and other partners must work together to develop the drug as soon as possible, and endeavor in making it the world’s first peptide nasal spray preventing coronavirus.
Hybio Pharmaceutical and Institute of Microbiology, CAS started technical cooperation in developing anti-COVID nasal sprays in November 2021.