A few weeks ago, NJBIZ Editor Jeff Kanige spoke with Jeffrey Nau, the CEO of Princeton-based Oyster Point Pharma about a nasal spray the company was developing that studies suggest is effective in preventing COVID-19 infections. For this edition of NJBIZ Conversations, Kanige talked to Dr. Abdul Gaffar and Peter Cho, co-founders of Salvacion-USA, an Englewood Cliffs company that is developing a similar spray.
Salvacion’s product — Covixyl-V — is further along, with the company submitting an application for an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Gaffar — who was inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame in 2001 for his work in producing the first antibacterial toothpaste — and Cho discussed the product, what it would mean for the fight against the pandemic and how quickly Salvacion would be able to scale up production at its manufacturing facility if an EUA is issued.
“Normally what happens is you have to certify a facility, the FDA certifies a facility that they would make the product under good manufacturing and clinical practice,” Gaffar said. “The facility passed the test and they already ran the trial to make sure they can scale up. So basically, we get an approval letter they will be ready to start the production within four weeks.”