18 September 2020 - - Austria-based biotechnology company CEBINA GmbH has released further positive results in its collaborative COVID-19 drug repurposing project, demonstrating that a common allergy nasal spray medication containing azelastine has potent efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 in a human 3D nasal tissue model, the company said.

Azelastine, a generic anti-histamine medication, has previously been identified as a potential anti-COVID-19 drug by CEBINA in collaboration with Professor Robert Konrat, a renowned structural biologist (Department of Structural and Computational Biology, University of Vienna, Austria) who applied a novel computational prediction approach and Professor Ferenc Jakab and his group (Head of National Laboratory of Virology at the Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Hungary), providing experimental confirmation.

The potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of azelastine formulated in a nasal spray was demonstrated in an experimental reconstituted human nasal tissue model and was evident at a lower dose than present in commercially available products.

CEBINA is planning a proof-of-concept clinical trial to confirm the efficacy of azelastine against nasal colonization and is in discussion with potential licensing partners for worldwide production and distribution of an anti-COVID-19 azelastine nasal spray.