The last two years of the pandemic have introduced new behaviours as part of our everyday—masking up, washing hands and sanitising, in particular, have become second nature. A just-released scientific innovation hopes to add one more habit to this mix. ErasaVir, a first-of-its-kind oral and nasal spray, developed by Palani LLC, USA in collaboration with Strassenburg Pharmaceuticals, India, works like an antibacterial soap, providing protection against SARS-CoV-2, influenza and other pathogens, say the makers. 

The idea for the innovation first came to Anupam Dokeniya when the pandemic broke out in February 2020. Dokeniya is the founder of a bio-pharmaceuticals company that is engaged in drug development, based on a fatty acid platform, to address hard-to-treat solid tumours. “Because of our research in oncology, we knew that some of these fatty acids can be used to fight enveloped viruses by disintegrating their lipid membranes.”