Shown above is the cover of Science Signaling’s latest edition. Its cover story is about inorganic polyphosphates, which researchers claim exert antiviral functions against the coronavirus. Photo courtesy of Haim Bio

Preventive medicine will come to town after toxicity tests

A Haim Bio representative said on July 10 that the South Korean biologics company will come up with nasal spray products, which can prevent and treat the coronavirus, next year.

The Seoul-based outfit recently announced in a paper that inorganic polyphosphates inhibit COVID-19 infection and replication.

The paper was featured on the front cover of the latest edition of Science Signaling, the sister publication of the peer-reviewed journal Science (See July 8 article of Korea News Plus).

“It will take about five months to conduct toxicity tests. After that, we plan to launch products using inorganic polyphosphates next February,” a Haim Bio representative said.

In a joint research with Yonsei University Medical School and the CEINGE institute, Haim Bio proved that inorganic polyphosphates prevent COVID-19 and exert an antiviral action against the coronavirus.

In the Science Signaling paper, the researchers said that inorganic polyphosphates could kill almost all viruses in infected primary human epithelial cells when the substance was introduced via a nasal spray.

For healthy people, inorganic polyphosphates delivered by such a nasal spray almost completed prevented infection, according to the researchers.

After showing inorganic polyphosphates were effective to the alpha variant first identified in Britain, they expect that the substances can also have the antiviral function against the dominant delta variant.

Their rationale: inorganic polyphosphates target a region where mutations producing the variants do not take place.

“The products will come in the form of nasal sprays,” the Haim Bio representative said.
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