Mundipharma will be introducing Cold Defence™, a new early treatment hailed as a "world-first", in Turkey and Canada to help families stay healthy and fight the common cold.

Common cold and flu-like illnesses are viral infections that affect adults twice per year on average. The impact is greater for children who can typically contract them up to five to seven times per year due to their close proximity at school and play.

Clinical trials have shown that this treatment reduced duration of disease by up to two days for children and by two days for adults, increased viral clearance and reduced severity of cold and flu-like symptoms.

Cold Defence™ is a natural product with anti-viral effects that helps reduce duration of colds in adults and children. It is delivered as a nasal spray and contains the ingredient iota -carrageenan, also called Carragelose^®. It is available in adult and children's formulations and is recommended for use at the first sign of cold and flu-like symptoms.

Several large scale clinical trials involving close to 600 adult and pediatric patients were conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the product. The analysis of children and adults suffering from virus-confirmed common cold after two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials demonstrated that it appeared as an effective treatment of common cold.

Mundipharma CEO, Raman Singh, said "Every year the common cold interrupts family, school and working life, soaking up medical leave, putting pressure on productivity and colleagues and interrupting people's daily life. As an early treatment to manage the Cold and other flu-like illnesses, Cold Defence™ can help keep families and workplaces productive and healthy."

"Providing Cold Defence™ in Canada and Turkey continues our commitment to the day-to-day wellbeing of families."