COVID Nasal Spray Vaccine -- USAGM
Metadata
- COVID Nasal Spray Vaccine -- USAGM
- May 11, 2022
- Content Type Package
- Language English
- Transcript/Script English COVID Nasal Spray Vaccine HEADLINE: COVID-19 Nasal Spray Could Transform Medicine Delivery, Treatment TEASER: PUBLISHED AT: 05/11/2022 at 9:20AM BYLINE: Kane Farabaugh CONTRIBUTOR: DATELINE: Chicago, Illinois VIDEOGRAPHER: Kane Farabaugh PRODUCER: Kane Farabaugh SCRIPT EDITORS: Bowman, MAS VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, Northwestern University, UNICEF PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __ TRT: 2:55 VID APPROVED BY: mia TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES: )) ((INTRODUCTION)) A promising antiviral delivery system developed at Northwestern University in Illinois could be a “game changer” in preventing and treating COVID-19 infections. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more. ((NARRATOR)) For several decades, Kelly Callahan has worked for the global nonprofit Carter Center to provide treatment and medicine to people suffering from neglected tropical diseases in some of the most remote and warmest places on the planet. ((Kelly Callahan, Carter Center Health Programs)) ((Skype)) “The end of the road is not where the people live, so you have to go far beyond the end of the road to deliver these vaccines or these drugs and therefore then maintaining a cold chain becomes incredibly difficult.” ((NARRATOR)) Callahan says complicated logistics to keep the medicines cold aren’t the only obstacle. Antibody therapies are difficult to develop, expensive and often must be administered by medical staff. Many patients also don’t want to be injected with needles, as health care professionals know all too well - all challenges that plague health care providers around the world trying to administer COVID-19 vaccines. ((Kelly Callahan, Carter Center Health Programs)) ((Skype)) “Anything that can be done to reduce the intensity of the delivery, anything that can be done to reduce the challenges in delivery will make delivery much easier.” ((NARRATOR)) Which is exactly what Northwestern University’s Dr. Michael Jewett is trying to do. ((Dr. Michael Jewett, Center for Synthetic Biology Director)) “This can revolutionize the way in which anti-viral therapies could be delivered.” ((NARRATOR)) Dr. Jewett and his staff at Northwestern’s Center for Synthetic Biology, in partnership with the University of Washington and Washington University in St. Louis, first used supercomputers to design a new protein-based antibody nasal spray. It was refined in testing on mice and delivered promising results in combatting COVID-19. ((Dr. Michael Jewett, Center for Synthetic Biology Director)) “What’s special about the version we created is it’s actually effective in neutralizing all variants of concern in this mouse model.” ((NARRATOR)) Testing showed Northwestern’s nasal spray outperformed current antibody treatments with Emergency Use Authorization status from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or FDA. Northwestern’s nasal spray maintained effectiveness for longer and also reduced the overall level of infection. ((Dr. Michael Jewett, Center for Synthetic Biology Director)) “One of the special features of this antiviral therapy is that we can both treat and prevent it.” ((NARRATOR)) The next, crucial step for the research team’s nasal spray -- which is cheaper to manufacture, doesn’t require cold storage, and can be self-administered -- is determining its effectiveness in humans. ((Dr. Michael Jewett, Center for Synthetic Biology Director)) “We’ve currently partnered with a biomanufacturing company to scale up the synthesis for testing and ultimately moving this towards phase one clinical trials.” ((NARRATOR)) Jewett says the process his team developed could be valuable in the fight against future pandemics. ((Dr. Michael Jewett, Center for Synthetic Biology Director)) “So I do think that all of the elements of the kind of platform that we’ve been able to put in place could be repurposed towards future viruses that we might face.” ((NARRATOR)) ((Kelly Callahan, Carter Center Health Programs)) ((Skype)) “This could be a game changer for many different types of treatments, not just one particular kind of disease. It could be for multiple diseases.” ((NARRATOR)) Clinical trials for the COVID-19 nasal spray could begin by the end of the year. ((Kane Farabaugh, VOA News, Evanston, Illinois. )
- Transcript/Script COVID Nasal Spray Vaccine HEADLINE: COVID-19 Nasal Spray Could Transform Medicine Delivery, Treatment TEASER: PUBLISHED AT: 05/11/2022 at 9:20AM BYLINE: Kane Farabaugh CONTRIBUTOR: DATELINE: Chicago, Illinois VIDEOGRAPHER: Kane Farabaugh PRODUCER: Kane Farabaugh SCRIPT EDITORS: Bowman, MAS VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, Northwestern University, UNICEF PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __ TRT: 2:55 VID APPROVED BY: mia TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES: )) ((INTRODUCTION)) A promising antiviral delivery system developed at Northwestern University in Illinois could be a “game changer” in preventing and treating COVID-19 infections. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more. ((NARRATOR)) For several decades, Kelly Callahan has worked for the global nonprofit Carter Center to provide treatment and medicine to people suffering from neglected tropical diseases in some of the most remote and warmest places on the planet. ((Kelly Callahan, Carter Center Health Programs)) ((Skype)) “The end of the road is not where the people live, so you have to go far beyond the end of the road to deliver these vaccines or these drugs and therefore then maintaining a cold chain becomes incredibly difficult.” ((NARRATOR)) Callahan says complicated logistics to keep the medicines cold aren’t the only obstacle. Antibody therapies are difficult to develop, expensive and often must be administered by medical staff. Many patients also don’t want to be injected with needles, as health care professionals know all too well - all challenges that plague health care providers around the world trying to administer COVID-19 vaccines. ((Kelly Callahan, Carter Center Health Programs)) ((Skype)) “Anything that can be done to reduce the intensity of the delivery, anything that can be done to reduce the challenges in delivery will make delivery much easier.” ((NARRATOR)) Which is exactly what Northwestern University’s Dr. Michael Jewett is trying to do. ((Dr. Michael Jewett, Center for Synthetic Biology Director)) “This can revolutionize the way in which anti-viral therapies could be delivered.” ((NARRATOR)) Dr. Jewett and his staff at Northwestern’s Center for Synthetic Biology, in partnership with the University of Washington and Washington University in St. Louis, first used supercomputers to design a new protein-based antibody nasal spray. It was refined in testing on mice and delivered promising results in combatting COVID-19. ((Dr. Michael Jewett, Center for Synthetic Biology Director)) “What’s special about the version we created is it’s actually effective in neutralizing all variants of concern in this mouse model.” ((NARRATOR)) Testing showed Northwestern’s nasal spray outperformed current antibody treatments with Emergency Use Authorization status from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or FDA. Northwestern’s nasal spray maintained effectiveness for longer and also reduced the overall level of infection. ((Dr. Michael Jewett, Center for Synthetic Biology Director)) “One of the special features of this antiviral therapy is that we can both treat and prevent it.” ((NARRATOR)) The next, crucial step for the research team’s nasal spray -- which is cheaper to manufacture, doesn’t require cold storage, and can be self-administered -- is determining its effectiveness in humans. ((Dr. Michael Jewett, Center for Synthetic Biology Director)) “We’ve currently partnered with a biomanufacturing company to scale up the synthesis for testing and ultimately moving this towards phase one clinical trials.” ((NARRATOR)) Jewett says the process his team developed could be valuable in the fight against future pandemics. ((Dr. Michael Jewett, Center for Synthetic Biology Director)) “So I do think that all of the elements of the kind of platform that we’ve been able to put in place could be repurposed towards future viruses that we might face.” ((NARRATOR)) ((Kelly Callahan, Carter Center Health Programs)) ((Skype)) “This could be a game changer for many different types of treatments, not just one particular kind of disease. It could be for multiple diseases.” ((NARRATOR)) Clinical trials for the COVID-19 nasal spray could begin by the end of the year. ((Kane Farabaugh, VOA News, Evanston, Illinois. )
- NewsML Media Topics Health
- Topic Tags Nasal COVID
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date May 11, 2022 15:30 EDT
- Description English A promising antiviral delivery system developed at Northwestern University in Illinois could be a “game changer” in preventing and treating COVID-19 infections. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more.
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America - English