Spray-On Influenza Virus Barrier

A compound sprayed on respiratory mask air filters reduces viruses passing through and also deactivates the live viruses that do manage to pass through the filters.

Quigley Pharma's QR-441 compound, manufactured by Quigley Pharma (Doylestown, PA, USA), has been tested against avian influenza virus H5N1 and human influenza virus H3N2. When sprayed on respiratory mask air filters, the QR-441 impregnated masks prevented up to 99% of the viruses from passing through, whereas the masks not treated with QR-441 had the ability to prevent up to 90% of the viruses from passing through. More important, the findings show that the QR-441 compound proved to deactivate the live viruses passing through these filters. Deactivation of live viruses in a range of 95.1-98.7% was observed in the studies.

Quigley Pharma develops pharmaceutical compounds targeting diverse conditions by utilizing natural sources of medicinal substances and investigation into traditional medicine and historic therapeutics.

"If there is an outbreak of avian flu in our U.S. human population, initially it will be easier to distribute the formula as a spray to be used on the exterior of commercially available masks than to develop and distribute a new style mask using the compound.” said Charles A. Phillips, senior vice president of Quigley Pharma. "In an emergency situation, the spray formula's increased ability to stop the virus from penetrating these masks may help reduce viral transmission.”

The company is pursuing use of the vaccine by government healthcare and poultry workers for a possible avian influenza outbreak preparedness program, the slaughter and disposal of infected birds and cleanup operations, for emergency medical type masks and isolation face masks, and for U.S. Homeland Security applications.




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