HELSINKI (May 6): Finnish pharmaceutical company Therapeutica Borealis Oy has developed a COVID-19 nasal spray, and the medication can be used for treatment and act as a prophylactic drug alongside vaccination, chief developer Kalervo Vaananen told Xinhua news agency on Wednesday.

"This medication would not do away with the need to get vaccinated, but it would prevent people from being infected at a location where the risk exists," Vaananen said. "It can work prophylactically on short notice, and within limited time."

"It would not impact the virus itself," so whether there are variants or not, it is not crucial, said Vaananen, who is also a professor of cell biology. "Instead, the medication impacts the cellular structures the virus uses to enter the body, so a change in the virus would not change the way it uses the cellular mechanisms," he added.

The company has received Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for its patent application for the spray, according to its press release on Wednesday.

"We expected the patent to be issued in a few weeks," said Vaananen, a founder of Therapeutica Borealis. "A person would need several sprays per day."

Designed to affect the function of the nasal mucosa in three ways, the spray can prevent and weaken the ability of the virus to enter a human body and replicate itself, making it possible to ward off the deadly disease and decrease the risk of falling ill seriously, said the company.

Active ingredients of the medicine are aprotinin, hydroxychloroquine, and ivermectin, which are known as effective drugs for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19. Vaananen's company said it used these ingredients in a targeted manner on the mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract.

Vaananen said drug development is a long-term task, and clinical trials are required before drugs are sold on the market.

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