Thread by @Biff248824

Quick 🧵on the current state of Iota-carrageenan nasal sprays: Efficacy, safety, Betadine shortages, buying options for US & Can. markets.

I-C sprays are the only option on the market that have a real-world randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study backing them up. 1/14

This study assessed the use of an I-C nasal spray in 394 hospital personnel dedicated to care of COVID-19 patients. Out of 198 to receive placebo, 10 infections (5% incidence). Out of the 196 to receive I-C, 2 infections (1% incidence). 2/14

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC84…

Other options, like Nitric Oxide (Enovid, VirX), Astodrimer sodium (Viraleze), ELAH (Covixyl), or Xylitol (Xlear) often appear promising, but to this point only have positive studies in vitro or positive studies that are not randomized, double blind, or placebo-controlled. 3/14

I-C sprays have been on the market much longer than other options with no reported long-term safety issues. Carragelose, the patented form of Iota-carrageenan commonly used in nasal sprays, received their first patent in 1997 and products came to market shortly after. 4/14

Starpharma (the producer of Viraleze) recently released a study showing that I-C has a fantastic safety profile, creating no issues with tissue integrity and impacting cell viability even less than their own product and all other options tested. 5/14

nature.com/articles/s4159…

That same study also highlighted serious potential safety issues with sprays containing Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose (Vicks, Taffix) or Povidone-Iodine (CofixRx, etc). And for the love of god please do not be putting Neosporin up your nostrils like some have recommended. 6/14

For most people in North America, the go-to brand over the last 5 years has been Betadine, which is produced for and sold in the Canadian market. Lately, there have been production issues, no available stock, and it may be the case that Betadine is discontinued entirely. 7/14

This Reddit thread discusses possible explanations (wholesalers ceasing operations, parent comp. Purdue pharma selling off OTC division). Some retailers state they expect stock again soon, but the timeline has shifted forward with no real updates. 8/14

reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCom…

Fortunately, there are several alternative sprays to Betadine, many of which might potentially even have a slightly higher efficacy. 9/14

For starters, there’s my pick, NoriZite from @birminghambio. In addition to I-C, this spray is unique in that it contains gellan gum, making it more viscous than other brands and helping with adhesion. They also produces an I-C oral spray which you might be interested in. 10/14

@birminghambio Next, there’s Lontax from Italy. This product is identical to Betadine, containing patented carragelose at a concentration of 1.2mg/ml. Notably, as well as another oral spray, they sell I-C lozenges which I also strongly recommend as part of a throat prophylaxis protocol. 11/14

Next, there’s Flo Travel from Australia. Might be a potential issue that it appears to mainly be available on Amazon from a questionable seller, however, a benefit is that it contains a slightly higher concentration of carragelose at 1.6mg/ml instead of Betadine’s 1.2. 12/14

For folks in Canada, you have an easier option unless you want to make one of the upgrades above. Salinex ProTect is identical (1.2mg/ml carragelose) and also sold in Canada, available in many pharmacies or at . For US folks, no easy shipping for now. 13/14 well.ca

These are just brands I’m personally familiar with. For a full list, see the Carragelose website. Ex: Algovir (Germany) & Viruseptin (Nordic) are popular, but I have not done research into purchasing options. Let me know if you have any questions. 14/14

carragelose.com/en/portfolio/l…

EDIT 1/2: Another couple brands that I’ve seen people mention are Nasitrol and ePothex. They do exist, and might be faster to ship and/or more affordable. Outside of that, neither seem to be using Carragelose or have any thickening agents so I would likely pass personally.

EDIT 2/2: Also seeing a lot about Profi. I don’t dislike it, the high viscosity is good since the main mechanism of these sprays is creating a physical barrier. It seems solid, but again, I don’t see myself purchasing for any reason in the absence of a real-world in vivo study.

Update 02/01/25, 1 month later:

> Still no Betadine and no word as to why.

> The Lontax brand from Italy linked above frequently goes out of stock. That was always sometimes the case, and it usually comes back pretty quickly, but it seems to be happening much more often lately. Hopefully it’s temporary.

> I’ve learned the “Flo travel” brand from Australia linked above can also be ordered from chemistwarehouse.com.au, which is an approved and reputable distributor. Although shipping is costly, the unit price is much cheaper than Amazon, and the total price (even for 1 unit) actually ends up being cheaper, since Amazon has raised the price from $20 to $27 since making this thread. The unit price at Chemist warehouse is $7.15USD per unit and $17.62USD shipping, for a total of $24.77

Update 03/06/25, 2 months later:

> Here’s a big one: Salinex ProTect, the identical formula to betadine, is now available to order for Americans at NorthernVitality.us for $20 and with free shipping, making it the cheapest reputable option in the US (for buying a single bottle).

> The Lontax spray is still out of stock at pharmacy loreto, and is out of stock at other retailers as well. Seems like they may also be experiencing production issues or outright discontinuation. For now, the lozenges and oral spray are still available.

In light of the Lontax spray being out of stock for so long, I wanted to find another option that also contains 0.4mg/ml of kappa carrageenan in additional to the 1.2mg/ml of iota-carrageenan like it does. It looks like apo-health.com ships to the US just fine and offers the Algovir brand from Germany.

They even have a children’s version, which is the same formulation as the adult version, but it just sprays less product, if anyone is interested in that!

Since this thread is getting pretty long now, I just did the thing and went ahead and created a quick spreadsheet of current options available in the US. I’ll try to keep it up to date monthly along with this thread:

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…