The FDA’s pre-IND response to Virpax Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s MMS-019, a molecular masking spray being developed as an over-the-counter product to limit transmission of SARS and influenza, has the company breathing easier and ready to chase an NDA. Virpax is in a crowded field of 43 COVID-19 intranasal therapeutics and vaccine programs.

A whole genome sequencing study has been the first to demonstrate a strong association between infection with the avian influenza A virus H7N9 and rare, heterozygous single-nucleotide variants in the MX1 gene encoding for the myxovirus resistance protein A.