A novel antiviral formulation inhibits a range of enveloped viruses.

Nicola F Fletcher; Luke W Meredith; Emma L Tidswell; Steven R Bryden; Daniel Gonçalves-Carneiro; Yasmin Chaudhry; Claire Shannon-Lowe; Michael A Folan; Daniella A Lefteri; Marieke Pingen; Dalan Bailey; Clive S McKimmie; Alan W Baird

Caprylic acid has been used in the purification process of immunoglobulins due to its inactivation of lipid enveloped viruses (Dichtelmuller et al., 2002) , a process which is pH-dependent and optimal at low pH. Poor solubility in aqueous solutions has limited antimicrobial applications of fatty acids in their free form (Jackman et al., 2016) and dissolution in solvents such as DMSO can cause skin irritation. Formulation as nanoparticles has been described to overcome the challenges of antimicrobial fatty acid bioavailability (Jackman et al., 2016 , Yoon et al., 2018 . In this study we used patented technology (Folan, M.A. International Patent No. WO 2011/061237) to build and use an emulsion to evaluate its antiviral potential. Recent publications have noted the potential antimicrobial activity of nanoemulsions and microemulsions (Churchward et al., 2018 , Buranasuksombat et al., 2011 , Ma et al., 2016 , Donsi and Ferrari, 2016 . In each of these studies there are no data that clearly evaluate the contribution of the individual components to the overall properties which, in a mixed system may be synergistic or antagonistic.