Zentek Reports Successful Testing of Aptamer Against Omicron Covid-19 Variant - Seite 2

Matthew Miller commented: "The animal model that was used to assess the C19HBA aptamer for the Omicron variant XBB 1.5, is very susceptible to severe infection. The mice were engineered to have the same ACE2 receptors as humans which makes them very susceptible to COVID-19 infection and allows the disease to progress rapidly. If the treatment was ineffective, the animals would have quickly deteriorated from this dose, as was observed with untreated animals. I highlighted very early on to the Zentek team that if the C19HBA aptamer offered the breadth of protection from the original Wuhan strain and the latest Omicron variant like XBB 1.5 then the therapeutic value would be very interesting. We have now reached this milestone in our testing. I am convinced that this aptamer and delivery system have immense potential to transform prevention and treatment of SARS-CoV-2".

In this study, engineered mice that have the same ACE2 receptors as humans were used for the trial. The mice were divided into three different groups - he first group was a control, while the second received the monoclonal antibody and the third received the C19HBA aptamer two hours prior to lethal Omicron infection. The control group demonstrated obvious signs of severe illness within five days of the infection. All animals that received monoclonal antibody or HBA aptamer survived. The HBA aptamer group had a slight weight loss during the initial phase of the trial but regained their original weight by the end of the seven-day study.

Any groups interested in learning more about the high binding affinity aptamer platform or the results of this SARS-CoV-2 study are encouraged to reach out to Colin van der Kuur, Chief Science Officer at Zentek at [e-mail]

About Zentek Ltd.

Zentek is an ISO 13485:2016 certified intellectual property technology company focused on the research, development and commercialization of novel products seeking to give the company's commercial partners a competitive advantage by making their products better, safer, and greener.

Zentek's patented technology platform ZenGUARD, is shown to have 99-per-cent anti-microbial activity and to significantly increase the bacterial and viral filtration efficiency of both surgical masks and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems. Zentek's ZenGUARD production facility is located in Guelph, Ontario. Zentek's patent pending ZenARMOR technology platform is focused on corrosion protection applications.