Bill,
Refute this.
Paul
The following abstract was copied with permission from the 5 ISABC Book
of Abstracts, 5th International Symposium on Applied Bioinorganic
Chemistry, 13-17 April 1999, Corfu, Greece.
_____________
THE EFFECT OF DIRECT APPLICATION OF IONIC ZINC NASAL GEL
ON THE SEVERITY AND DURATION OF THE COMMON COLD.
Charles B. Hensley, Ph.D and R. Steven Davidson, Ph.D
Gel Tech Inc. 6430 Variel Ave. S. 102, Woodland Hills, California 91367
U.S.A.
Over 200 viruses can cause the common cold with the majority being caused
by rhinoviruses. Human rhinovirus (HRV) entry into the nasal epithelium is
mediated by binding to a cellular receptor and is a critical first step in the
infection process. In the human nasal mucosa, intercellular adhesion
molecule (ICAM-1) is known to be the receptor used by HRV to gain entry
into the human nasal epithelium. Furthermore, molecular modeling reveals
that the ICAM-1 docking sites on the surface of HRV are ideally constituted
and disposed to receive zinc ions. These and other observations led us to
hypothesize that strategic application of ionized zinc to the nasal epithelium
would result in zinc ions occupying these sites, which would prevent HRV
docking with ICAM-1, effectively interrupting the HRV infection cycle. To this
end, we have developed a common cold therapy based on direct application
of ionic zinc to the nasal epithelial surface via a gel matrix delivery system.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of our preparation in
reducing the severity and duration of the common cold.
The double blind, placebo controlled study was conducted over a two cold
season period. Two hundred volunteers were initially enrolled in the study of
which one hundred and four participated (those presenting with at least three
of nine cold symptoms for a period of 24 hours or less). Each subject
received a pump sprayer containing either 10 mM zinc nasal gel (n=12), 33
mM zinc nasal gel (n=40), or placebo gel (n=52). Subjects were instructed to
spray one dose per nostril every four hours during waking hours and just prior
to retiring for the evening for as long as they had cold symptoms. Subjects
completed a symptom chart documenting the severity (scale of 0 to 3) of
symptoms throughout the duration of their colds. Colds were determined to
be over only when all symptoms were resolved (a total symptom score of 0).
The 33mM zinc nasal gel was more effective than the other treatment
protocols at reducing both the severity and duration of the common cold. We
used the Kaplan-Meier method to estimate the percentage of subjects whose
colds completely resolved. The mean resolution time for all symptoms was
1.5 +/- 0.82 days (n=40) for subjects using 33 mM zinc gel, 3.29 +/- 1.03
days (n=12) for subjects using 10 mM zinc gel, and 9.8 +/- 4.5 days (n=52)
for subjects using the placebo gel. The results of the Student's t Test and the
plot of these distributions demonstrate that symptoms resolved significantly
faster in the zinc groups than in the placebo group (p < 0.001 for 33 mM zinc;
p < 0.001 for 10 mM zinc). The analysis also showed that the cold duration
was shorter in the 33 mM zinc group when compared with the 10 mM zinc
group (p < 0.005).
In conclusion, we find that direct application of ionic zinc to the nasal
epithelial surface to be very effective in reducing the severity and duration of
the common cold symptoms. The nasal gel containing 33 mM ionized zinc
significantly reduced the duration of the common cold from an average of 9.8
days in the placebo group to an average of 1.5 days, which amounts to an
85% reduction in the duration of the common cold. |
