While the recent arrival of the Omicron variant is panicking governments around the world, American researchers say they have developed an anti-covid chewing gum. While the results are promising, no human testing has taken place. And above all, the public may never have access to it.
The installation of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in our daily lives sometimes gives rise to some innovations . Recently, for example, a British company has developed a promising vaccine in the form of a microneedle skin patch. A team from the University of Pennsylvania (United States) has developed an anti-covid chewing gum which again gave good results. Details of this innovation were published in the journal Molecular Therapy on November 10, 2021.
First of all, remember that the infectious agent is concentrated in very large quantities in the nose, but also in the mouth (in the saliva). Some studies also highlight the role of saliva in contamination and the spread of the epidemic. American scientists then had the idea of developing a chewy paste containing proteins whose mission is to trap the virus.
The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infects our cells by attaching itself to ACE2 proteins in order to multiply there. However, the chewing gum in question itself contains the same kind of proteins, derived from plant cells. So,the idea is to fool the virus which would cling to the ACE2 proteins contained in chewing gum.
By trapping the virus to a large extent, chewing gum would avoid the replication cycle of the infectious agent . The severity of the disease and the risk of contamination would thus be reduced. We can therefore speak here of prophylactic innovation, that is to say having the aim of limiting or preventing infection, and not of treating it. The results are quite surprising, because according to the researchers, the effectiveness is greater than 95% in the reduction of the replication cycle of the virus in the mouth in the case of a dose of 50 mg or more.
On the other hand, the scientists are categorical:this is only a laboratory experiment, nothing more. First, no clinical trials on humans was not conducted. Indeed, they used a chewing simulator. In addition, the coronavirus in real conditions also infects humans through no other routes (nose and eyes). The marketing of an anti-covid chewing gum is therefore not at all on the agenda.
According to the authors of the study, the interest of their work lies in the results. It could be that in the near future, new concepts of biological antiviral traps be developed.
