Daewoong Pharmaceutical Ltd. has out-licensed greater China rights for its idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) candidate, bersiporocin (DWN-2088), to CS Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in a deal worth up to $336 million. Bersiporocin is a prolyl-tRNA synthetase inhibitor being developed by Daewoong for IPF and potentially other fibrotic indications.
Cholecystokinin (CCK) is a peptide hormone found predominantly in the gastrointestinal tract and throughout the central nervous system (CNS), and which has been also shown to stimulate the secretion of calcitonin, insulin and glucagon and to act as a natriuretic kidney peptide. Researchers from Harvard University and affiliated organizations aimed to assess the function of CCK in obesity-induced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and asthma.
A lack of available options for treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is driving plenty of development into the indication. The latest data come from Pliant Therapeutics Inc., which posted positive 12-week interim data from 21 participants in the 320-mg dose group’s active arm and eight in the placebo arm in its phase IIa study of PLN-74809 (bexotegrast).
Researchers at the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology’s Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and Pulmobiotics Ltd. have used one bacterium to fight another. In mouse models, the team used engineered Mycoplasma pneumoniae to treat Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the chief culprit in ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).
Pulmobiotics Ltd., which was founded in 2019, is developing cell therapy for lung diseases, including lung cancer. But unlike other cell therapies for cancer, this one is based not on harnessing T cells but on engineering bacteria. The team has engineered Mycoplasma pneumoniae to deliver various therapeutic proteins to the lung, depending on the therapeutic indication.
Chemokine-like receptor 1 (CMKLR1) is a G protein-coupled receptor for chemerin and resolvin E1 that plays a key role in the recruitment and activation of macrophages, natural killer cells and plasmacytoid dendritic cells in inflammatory diseases.
After comparing the response to the two types of vaccines for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) based on its fusion protein (F), prefusion (pre-F) versus postfusion (post-F) vaccines, scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Astrazeneca plc have demonstrated that targeting the pre-F protein led to better protection. No more bets on RSV immunization based on the post-F protein of the virus. Laboratories can now bet all on red for the pre-F technology.
Genentech Inc. has disclosed 2,8-diazaspiro [4.5] decane compounds acting as serine/threonine-protein kinase LATS1 and/or LATS2 inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
The U.S. FDA has approved Polarean Imaging plc’s drug-device combination product, Xenoview, for use with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in evaluating lung ventilation in adults and children aged 12 and older. The hyperpolarized contrast agent, which is prepared from the Xenon Xe 129 gas blend, is expected to be commercially available in the U.S. starting next month.
Research at Azcuris Co. Ltd. has led to the development of thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP)/cytokine receptor-like factor 2 (CRLF2; TSLPR) interaction inhibitors, which are reported to be useful for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), allergy, asthma, allergic rhinitis and chronic rhinosinusitis.
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