Spain, July 20: ColdZyme, a mouth spray by Swedish life science company  Enzymatica AB, has the ability to deactivate SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, a latest study revealed. The firm released the preliminary results of an in vitro study which showed that its mouth spray ColdZyme deactivates SARS-CoV-2 virus by 98.3 percent. "The study demonstrated that ColdZyme deactivates SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus by 98.3% (1.76 log\10\). The results indicate that ColdZyme can offer a protective barrier against harmful viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 by local virus deactivation in the oral cavity", the company said in a press release.

The study reveals that ColdZyme is also effective on the virus causing the common cold. "Previous in vitro results made with the same method showed that ColdZyme is effective against another coronavirus, HCoV-229E, one of the causes of the common cold, and in comparison to SARS-CoV-2 belongs to another subgroup within the corona family", it said. COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Oxford Coronavirus Vaccine Early Stage Trial Shows Promise, Says Report.

The study informed that the medical device ColdZyme is a mouth spray that forms a barrier in the oral cavity against common cold viruses. The barrier solution of the device is mainly composed of glycerol and Atlantic cod trypsin. The goal of the present study was to determine the ability of ColdZyme to deactivate SARS-CoV-2 known to cause the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study was conducted by the US company Microbac Laboratories Inc - an independent, accredited and certified laboratory. It added saying that a virucidal efficacy suspension test was conducted using ColdZyme against SARS-CoV-2. "ColdZyme deactivated SARS-CoV-2 by 98.3% (1.76 log10) in 20 minutes. Furthermore, no cytotoxicity was detected for ColdZyme at any dilution tested", the firm said.

The Swedish firm added saying that SARS-CoV-2 actively replicates in the throat and shows high viral shedding also at a time of mild symptoms. Therefore, ColdZyme sprayed onto the mouth and throat could lower the risk of infection, and decrease the viral load locally. Lowered viral load may decrease viral shedding and thus minimize the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 20, 2020 04:57 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).