Publication date: Feb 25, 2025

SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, predominantly affects the respiratory tract, underscoring the need to develop antiviral agents in an inhalable formulation that can be delivered as prophylactic and/or therapeutic drugs directly to the infection site. Since the beginning of the pandemic, our group has been exploring the possibility of developing combinations of antiviral drugs that can be delivered as inhalable therapy, including combinations of remdesivir and ebselen or remdesivir and disulfiram prepared using a spray-drying technique. In this study, we used a similar spray-drying technique to develop inhalable dry powders combining the controversial drugs ivermectin and niclosamide, which have been reported to exhibit synergistic activity against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. The combined dry powders were within the size range of 1-5 μm, amorphous in nature and displayed characteristic morphology after spray drying. The emitted dose (ED) of the spray-dried powders ranged from 68 to 83 %, whereas the fine particle fraction (FPF) ranged between 50 and 74 %. All the prepared dry powders remained stable under different humidity conditions (

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