A NASAL spray that claims to stop the common cold in its tracks has been developed.

If it works, Procter & Gamble (P&G) has cracked a problem that has defeated the Medical Research Council’s Common Cold Research Unit for almost half a century and defied the best that science and folk medicine could throw at it.

Vicks First Defence makes no claim to cure colds, or to prevent them. But it does claim to reduce the chance of developing a full-blown cold by up to 50 per cent if taken promptly at the first sign of symptoms and to cut symptoms by up to 40 per cent.

Professor Ron Eccles, of the Common Cold Centre at Cardiff University, said yesterday that he was excited by the development. “I’m supportive,” he said. “It’s a very good idea on their part.” The new treatment, which is not a drug, aims to trap the cold virus using a viscous gel, disarm it by creating an environment in which it cannot flourish and remove it by increasing the snuffles and washing it away.

Professor Eccles thinks that this makes sense. “There are 200 types of virus that can cause colds, in five to six different families,” he said. “So drugs that target individual viruses are always going to have a limited impact.”

First Defence instead attacks the cold by physical rather than pharmacological means. It consists of a viscous gel that is sprayed into the nose. The gel is mildly acidic, which the viruses do not like as they prefer alkaline conditions, so they are partially inactivated. The spray also causes a mild nasal irritation to stimulate secretions to help to wash the virus away. Its jelly-like consistency tends to trap the viruses, so that they cannot lock on to receptors in the body’s cells.

The product does not qualify as a medicine but as a medical device, which means that P&G has not had to carry out extensive trials.

But it has done some unpublished research, which Professor Eccles says that he has seen and finds persuasive. In one trial, 70 healthy volunteers were dosed with a rhinovirus that causes a cold. Among those treated with a placebo, 79 per cent developed a cold, whereas 57 per cent of those treated with First Defence did. First Defence also reduced the severity of symptoms.

In a second trial on 400 volunteers, it was tested against naturally acquired colds. The volunteers were asked to start their treatment four times a day as soon as they experienced cold symptoms. Those using First Defence recovered in an average of 6.1 days, compared with 7.2 days for those using a placebo and 8.9 days for those taking no treatment. Although this is far from a cure, it is an improvement that may justify the £6.99 that the treatment will cost.

P&G said yesterday that its experts had taken four years and developed 150 prototypes before coming up with First Defence. For optimum results the company said that it was best to continue taking the treatment for two days after the symptoms had subsided, and that it could also be used to ward off a cold when a partner or a member of the family was suffering from one. “This is not the Holy Grail,” said Professor Eccles, “but it is exciting. P&G is planning to do some more trials in the US, and I’m looking forward to seeing the results.”

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