The US Department of Defense has been funding a nasal spray made in Melbourne. The company is ENA Respiratory, and its spray doesn’t go after any one virus. It works on your nose instead.
How it works
Colds, flu, RSV and coronaviruses mostly get in through the nose. Vaccines train your immune system on one bug at a time. ENA’s drug, INNA-051, is designed to prime the antiviral defences already sitting in your nasal lining, so one product could cover a whole category of infection.
It is a dry powder, dosed once a week.
The catch
Nothing is proven in patients yet. It is still in trials.
The money
ENA received $2.98M in non-dilutive funding through the Biointelect Venturer program, backed by the federal Medical Research Future Fund. That was part of $10.48M shared across six infectious disease biotechs.
Before that, the US Department of Defense committed more than US$8M to develop INNA-051, then extended the contract. ENA also raised a $34M Series B led by Brandon Capital and Uniseed.
The timeline
A US Phase 2 study is already running, with its first stage completed in May. The new money funds an Australian trial in adults with asthma, starting in early 2027. People with asthma are a big target because viral infections are a common trigger for attacks.
My read
The idea is simple and big: stop worrying about which virus is going around and strengthen the front door instead. Defence money tells you why the US cares, since a spray like this would protect people against threats nobody has named yet. But until the trial data comes back, it is a promising bet, not a proven one.