Chewing gum designed to trap SARS-CoV-2 enters clinical trial

USA: An innovative chewing gum designed to trap SARS-CoV-2 in the saliva and potentially block transmission of COVID-19 will be evaluated at a newly launched clinical trial at Penn Dental Medicine (PDM), Philadelphia.

Chew and block

The chewing gum, developed by Dr Henry Daniell, PDM’s W. D. Miller Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Basic and Translational Sciences, contains plant-derived material genetically engineered to contain ACE2, a protein found naturally in human blood and saliva.

The ACE2 receptor is found on human cells and is bound by SARS-CoV-2 virus during infection.

In experimental models, chewing the gum released the embedded ACE2, blocking the interaction of the chewer’s own ACE2 receptor and the viral spike protein.

Clinical trial

The trial participants are selected from a pool of Penn Medicine employees whose responses to a screening system indicate that they may be infected by COVID-19.

In the clinical trial, participants will be given a packet of a 12 experimental tablets of the cinnamon-flavored gum. Each morning, they will be instructed to chew one gum.

The gum is said to trap and neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in the saliva and, ideally, diminish the amount of virus left in the mouth. It is hoped that less virus would mean a lower likelihood of passing the infection on to others.

Another gum in the works

“I’m hoping that if this is effective and safe it will be the beginning of several other oral delivery drugs using this platform,” says Dr Daniell.

Dr Daniell and colleagues are working on another gum, containing a different protein, that could target a broader range of respiratory viruses, including influenza.

Click here to read the full article.