SAINT PETERSBURG—CarraShield Labs, Inc. has announced that it has been issued US Patent 10,688,043, the first in a series of patent filings developed by its chief scientist Dr. Mario Tremblay, covering the natural, anti-viral gel technology marketed as CarraShield and available over-the-counter in a personal lubricant called Divine 9.
The technology uses a unique sea algae extract as its active ingredient, resulting in a product that is not only the first of its kind to show efficacy against human papillomavirus (HPV), but also one that is derived from nature. Divine 9 with CarraShield is the first and only personal lubricant formulated with a sea algae extract, commonly referred to as carrageenan, to be FDA-approved as a Class II Medical Device.
Published independent clinical results from the CATCH (Carrageenan-gel Against Transmission of Cervical HPV) McGill University Medical School Phase IIb study show that women can reduce the risk of contracting cancer and wart-causing HPV infections by using Divine 9 personal lubricant from CarraShield Labs with CarraShield technology. In the CATCH study, the McGill team evaluated the long-term use of Divine 9 by hundreds of women. It found that using Divine 9 personal lubricant in each intimate encounter reduced the number of new HPV infections as compared to using a standard lubricant.
CarraShield Labs’ patented gel technology was first tested at the National Cancer Institute. The Institute’s in vitro and in vivo studies showed CarraShield Labs' Divine 9 personal lubricant to be highly effective in blocking infection by the human papillomavirus (HPV). This was followed by confirmatory studies at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and joint work with The Population Council. The in vitro studies also demonstrated the superiority of the patented CarraShield carrageenan versus other carrageenan types, even at low concentrations.
There are approximately 470,000 cases per year of Invasive Cervical Cancer (ICC) globally, comprising 10% of all female cancers, and it was found to be the second most prevalent cancer in women after breast cancer. HPV is also strongly linked to penile, vaginal/vulvar and anal cancers as well as being the root cause of genital warts. The detection of oral HPV infection has also increased significantly in the past 10 years, which is linked to a rising number of cases of oral, neck and throat cancers.
The CarraShield gel technology opens up new ways to help prevent HPV-induced cancers and warts above and beyond vaccines. Current HPV vaccines only protect against up to nine types of HPV virus out of more than 200 HPV types. It is estimated that only 107 million women have been vaccinated out of a global population of 2.8 billion.
“While the HPV vaccine protects against, at the most, nine strains of the virus, potentially, the carrageenan-based lubricant can provide total protection from HPV,” stated Dr. Eduardo Franco, Principal Investigator, University of McGill Medical School.
The newly patented CarraShield technology works as a protective barrier, with no chemical interactions with the body. The barrier mechanism works to reduce transmission from infected individuals by blocking and containing viral shedding. This barrier technology is now being tested with COVID-19 as a means of reducing the spread and severity of the global pandemic. The company will also soon begin clinical testing of products to prevent oral HPV transmission.
For information on distribution and licensing opportunities, contact the company at CarrashieldLabs.com.
