Throat sprays manufactured by a Winnipeg-based natural health company are up to 99.9 per cent effective against novel viruses like COVID-19, new research suggests.
Innotech Nutrition’s COLFLEX Oral Spray can inactivate the infectious human coronavirus 229E within two minutes of contact, according to the “promising” results of a Penn State College of Medicine study, shared exclusively with the Free Press.
And anyone can purchase the 25-ml spritz for $19.99 at naturopathic pharmacies and drug stores across Canada — whether that’s the cinnamon-lemon or arctic-mint version.
“It all started when Health Canada reached out to us and asked whether we could help fight this battle against the pandemic,” said Wayne Friesen, president of Innotech Nutrition, in an interview on Tuesday.
“I immediately thought the throat sprays we already have fighting against flus and common colds might be helpful. So, Health Canada said we should urgently get some independent scientific research done to see how effective it would be for COVID.”
Within mere weeks, the Penn State scientific team prepared laboratory tests to replicate the interaction of the human coronavirus 229E in the throat and oral cavities using Innotech’s spray — which has been around since 2012 and has already proven successful to kill staph, strep pneumonia, E. coli, salmonella and other such viruses.
COLFLEX was more than 90 per cent effective at eliminating the virus at a 60-second contact time.
Those findings are “quite successful and very promising,” said Dr. Craig Meyers, who led the team which conducted the study.
“We used the HCoV229E virus for this because compounds that are effective at inactivating 229E typically act similarly against other human coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2 or what we all know as COVID-19,” explained Meyers.
“Now, what needs to be determined is how exactly this will work in a real-life scenario for a patient — instead of a petri-dish laboratory setting.”
Friesen said Innotech is “excitedly” looking forward to doing that by designing and conducting clinical trials.
Based on those trials and demand from customers, Innotech will likely ramp up its manufacturing of the throat spray to markets across the country.
While the spray is not a complete replacement for preventive measures like face masks or immunity treatments like vaccines, it could “very well be an effective way to manage life beyond the pandemic, as we learn to live with this virus,” said Dr. Meyers.
“Personally, I use COLFLEX routinely myself,” said Friesen. “But knowing now how effective it is against COVID, it’s an added layer of protection that just makes sure I’m safe — and I’m sure everyone would feel the same after they’ve used it.”
