Swedish firm's ColdZyme mouth spray deactivates 98.3% of COVID-19 virus: Study

July 22, 2020

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.

Swedish life science company Enzymatica has announced that the preliminary results of an in vitro study showing the ability of the mouth spray ColdZyme to deactivate SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic. The study demonstrated that ColdZyme deactivates SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus by 98.3 percent.

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 regulatory filing on Monday.

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. 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 study was conducted by the US company Microbac Laboratories Inc - an independent, accredited and certified laboratory,” the company statement said.

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The in vitro study was based on a standardized and validated methodology, i.e. ASTM International test method designated E1052 “Standard Test Method to Assess the Activity of Microbicides against Viruses in Suspension”, it added.

"Even if the current in vitro results cannot be directly translated into clinical efficacy, it is very interesting that ColdZyme is able to effectively deactivate SARS-CoV-2 in vitro since it constitutes a proof-of-principle that can be taken further into clinical studies. Thus, the results indicate that ColdZyme can offer a protective barrier against SARS-CoV-2," said Claus Egstrand, Enzymatica’s Chief Operating Officer.

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. The aggregated results indicate that ColdZyme can be effective against a variety of coronaviruses, the company added.

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. The lowered viral load may decrease viral shedding and thus minimize the spread of SARS-CoV-2, it added.