With no treatments available to effectively clear mucus, Aer Therapeutics Inc. secured $36 million in a series A financing to advance its novel inhaled small-molecule mucolytic treatment, AER-01, bringing optimism to about 5 million Americans with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who have a high burden of mucus plugs.
Ocean Biomedical Inc. announced it will be targeting its pulmonary fibrosis treatment candidate OCF-203 as a novel therapeutic for fatal pulmonary fibrotic conditions caused by Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS).
Researchers at Indiana University Bloomington have developed allosteric modulators of the opioid receptor that were superior to the opioid antidote naloxone at blocking the effects of fentanyl in vitro. They presented their work in a session on “Progress towards more efficacious medicine: Antibiotics and antidotes” at the 2023 spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
New research has shed light on a molecular mechanism that fuels inflammation in acute lung injury (ALI), a severe and often fatal condition. Macrophage necroptosis, a form of cell death, is a necessary process contributing to intrapulmonary inflammation during ALI. However, the molecular mechanism that initiates macrophage necroptosis has remained unclear until now.
Dupixent (dupilumab) continues to expand its scope, this time potentially leading it and its developers into a new, multibillion dollar blockbuster market. Dupixent hit the primary and all key secondary endpoints in a phase III study of treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Mereo Biopharma Group plc said its path to approval for alvelestat is a phase III study that would preclude an additional confirmatory trial. After meetings with the U.S. FDA and the EMA to discuss next steps, Mereo said it is designing a single, 12- to 18-month, global phase III of the neutrophil elastase inhibitor for treating alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency-associated lung disease.