Zinc aerosols to prevent & treat COVID19

PROBLEM-     Find a cheap and nontoxic preventative and treatment for COVID19. Zinc is toxic in large doses but pinpoint delivery to the lungs lowers the  amount the rest of the body is exposed to. Use of nanoparticles  is a well known method of increasing drug effectiveness with lower doses. 

High dose zinc is currently used in pig feed additives to reduce morbidity and mortality from enteric coronaviruses and bacterial infections.

SOLUTION- The project proposes to test dry powder aerosols of Zn nanoparticles on animals and clinical trials.  The aerosols can be used prophylactically to prevent transmission in populations and to treat existing infections. It has potential of being a nontoxic cheap and easily scalable product. It will have a long shelf life without refrigeration.

GLOBAL BENEFITS  Low expense, nonrefrigerated storage and easy manufacture of nanoparticle powders from readily availble Zinc makes it ideal for contolling the pandemic in developing countries. 

The specific problem is the spread of COVID 19 in communities and accomanying sickness and death. 

The scale of the pandemic is worldwide. Hospitals and clinics are overwhelmed with too many patients. 

Zinc sulfate is already used in nasal sprays to prevent the common cold. Reformulating it for oral inhalation will be straightforward. Zinc oxide nanoparticles are already manufactured on  large scale for sunblocking creams. The zinc nanoparticles must be formulated to resist agglomeration and flow smoothly in metered doses. Nanoparticles can be delivered by well know dry powder aerosol technology. Dry powder inhalers are sold now and range in price from $1 to $30.

It will be available over the counter or with a prescription as an aerosol. People will inhale the aerosol before exposure to possibly infected people in public to prevent infections. It will also  be tested for its use as a treatment  to reduce severity of symptoms. Its' ability to reduce doses in combination with other antiviral drugs including steroids should be tested.

They are people all over the world who must survive a pandemic and whose lives are on hold in the qurarantine. They are third world people and first world people. They are unemployed people and people working in essential industries and services who come into contact with possibly infected people, nurses and doctors. The zinc aerosols will prevent infections at work and help treat infected people.

The problem is well defined, as is the solution of using cheap nontoxic easily manufactured zinc aerosols,  that can be manufactured or distributed in most countries. It aligns well with the task of stopping the COVID 19 pandemic, and treating infected patients. The broad antiviral activity of zinc might make it useful in preventing future coronavirus epidemics. It is known to stop SARS and MERS coronaviruses.

Zinc in cough lozenges and nasal sprays is already used to prevent and shorten the course of viral infections. High dose zinc is fed to pigs in commerical settings to cause resistance to enteric coronaviruses. The USDA has approved it for that purpose.

The innovations are zinc nanoparticle and aerosol formulations that permit lower nontoxic doses by delivering zinc specifically to lung cells.

The solution is a new application of USDA approved zinc feed additives to prevent enteric coronavirus infections, morbidity and mortality. Zinc has been shown to prevent and interrupt MERS and SARS coronavirus infections in vitro and in test animals. Those repiratory viruses respond to some drugs that have shown some, but limited effectiveness in treating COVID19, which is a related virus. Thus other agents like zinc that work against MERS and SARS might have efficacy against COVID 19.

Dry powder inhalers and their use to deliver nanoparticle drugs to the lungs are well known and commercially available technology. Zinc oxide nanoparticles are commercially available in UV sunblockers. All of those known technologies will be combined to create a cheap, readily available, nonperishable solution to  present and future pandemics. Also, dexamethasone and ritonivir have some effectiveness treating COVID 19. Those existing technolologies might be augmented by combination therapies that take advantage of possible synergism and potentiation of drug action if combined with zinc.

Thus, the solution qualifies as an innovative application of existing technology, using cheap, readily available, and nontoxic  zinc nanoparticle materials and dry powder aerosol inhalers.

currently zero since it is at the conceptual stage. If it is proven effective hundreds of millions will benefit in one year and possibly 7 billion people will use zinc nanoparticle aerosols to prevent COVID 19 transmission and to prevent infections by novel coronaviruses before vaccines are developed.

Next year;  Put together a team of scientists and doctors to test zinc for ability to block COVID 19 infections in animals and in tissue cultures. 

The step after that will be human clinical trials.

I envision that 5 years from now zinc nanoparticles and dry powder inhalers will be distributed by governments and private companies on a wide basis.

The biggest barrier is lack of funding to test zinc nanoparticle aerosols in vivo and in vitro,  and lack of funding for clinical trials if encouraging results are obtained. Its a future hurdle but getting approval by the FDA and other drug regulatory agencies will be a challenge.

The cheapness and easy manufacturabilty zinc nanoparticles and dry powder inhalers will help overcome marketing barriers.

Prove it works.

Pass regulatory hurdles.

Find manufacturers.

Develop a value proposition that makes it profitable to manufacture and sell it to  pharmacies and government public health organizations and charitable organizations.