PULMATRIX INC SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 24, 2017 / CEOCFO Magazine, an independent investment publication that highlights important technologies and companies, today focuses on the huge markets for drug companies in lung diseases - and how a company called Pulmatrix, Inc. (NASDAQ: PULM) is seizing this opportunity with an innovative inhaled drug technology.
More than 30 million Americans suffer from coughing, breathlessness, and other symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a progressive lung disease. Current inhaled drugs for COPD, such as Spiriva®, have become billion-dollar blockbusters. Drugs for asthma have similar billion-dollar sales.
But current inhaled drugs have limitations. Because their respective delivery technologies are not very efficient, much of the drug gets stuck in the throat, and there are limits to the types of medicines that can be delivered.
As a result, there are major opportunities for companies that can develop a more efficient and more versatile drug delivery technology.
One of those companies is Pulmatrix, Inc. Pulmatrix has created small dry particles that fly easily into the lungs and that can be attached to virtually any type of drug. The technology boosts drug delivery efficiency - and makes it possible to treat lung diseases in new ways.
Pulmatrix's inhaled iSPERSE? technology enables the same medicine used in Spiriva to be delivered to the lungs many times more efficiently. ''That translates to efficacy and reduces the amount of needed drug which could reduce side effects - as well as the potential for large revenues based on the size of the market,'' explains Dr. David A. Edwards, Professor of the Practice of Idea Translation at Harvard University. Pulmatrix has partnered with Vectura to rapidly bring its drug candidate for COPD, PUR0200, to market in the United States. Meanwhile, the company has planned a clinical trial of a novel drug in-licensed from Janssen that tackles COPD in a new way - by fighting inflammation in the lungs without steroids. ''With these innovative new drugs, Pulmatrix is poised to be a key player in the multi-billion market for treating COPD,'' says Dr. Edwards.
Pulmatrix is also working on another unmet medical need - fungal infections in the lungs. By formulating an anti-fungal drug using its iSPERSE technology, Pulmatrix has been able to achieve high concentrations of the drug in the lungs compared to oral therapy. ''This inhaled approach has great potential to treat serious fungal infections, opening up new markets for Pulmatrix,'' says Dr. Richard Moss, Professor Emeritus and former chief of Pediatric Pulmonology at Stanford University.
Contact:
Bud Wayne
Editorial Executive
CEOCFO Magazine
570-851-1745
budwayne@ceocfomagazine.com
SOURCE: CEOCFO Magazine
