21 September 2022

---

Chewing gum that may block SARS-CoV-2 moves to clinical trial

---

A recently launched clinical trial at the University of Pennsylvania will evaluate a novel chewing gum designed by Penn Dental Medicine’s Henry Daniell, W.D. Miller Professor in the Department of Basic & Translational Sciences. The gum traps SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — in the saliva, potentially blocking transmission of COVID-19 from one person to another.  

The trial will recruit participants from a pool of Penn Medicine employees that may be battling a COVID-19 infection, according to a Penn Dental Medicine story. 

The gum was created to trap and neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in the saliva and, ideally, diminish the amount of virus left in the mouth. Researchers hope that less virus would mean a lower likelihood of passing the infection on to others.

Findings from a preclinical study of the gum’s efficacy in neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus in patient samples published in the journal Biomaterials in July showed the gum could reduce viral load to nearly undetectable levels. The results supported an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for an Investigational New Drug, which went into effect in May and paved the way for the launch of the clinical trial.

The technology behind this experimental treatment has moved from the laboratory bench to the beginning of clinical experimentation all within Penn Dental Medicine, a first for the school. The partnership with colleagues from Penn Medicine enables the launch of the first-in-human clinical trial.

“This technology may have the ability to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and the flu as well as make it safer for dentists and other healthcare providers to provide care to patients who we know are infected,” said Dr. Mark Wolff, the Morton Amsterdam Dean of Penn Dental Medicine, also a coauthor on the Biomaterials study.

Source: “Chewing Gum Designed to Trap SARS-CoV-2 in the Saliva Moves to Clinical Trial from Dr. Henry Daniell's Lab,” Katherine Unger Baillie, Penn Dental Medicine, September 8, 2022.