A life sciences animated video was recently released by Pulmatrix to explain breathing issues experienced by patients with serious lung diseases and to illustrate novel promising therapies developed by the company.
The video can be viewed at http://ir.pulmatrix.com/.
The lung is a complex apparatus that expands and relaxes 20,000 times per day in the process of taking in oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide. When the lung is affected by disease, problems can range from inflammation, to spasms of the smooth muscles, to severe inability to breathe.
“Millions of people struggle to breathe every day because of such diseases as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF),” said Pulmatrix CEO Robert Clarke, in a press release. “For them, the struggle for breath is a struggle for life.”
Most severe lung diseases have no cure, so available treatments are designed to relieve symptoms and limit recurrence. When compared to oral and injectable drugs, inhalers are more effective because they are designed to deliver the drug directly to the lung instead of through the blood stream.
But current inhalers are far from perfect because a large amount of the inhaled drug stays in the throat and never makes it into the lungs – which induces unfavorable side effects.
Pulmatrix’s new technology inhaler uses engineered dry particles that are capable of transporting drugs, antibiotics and other useful agents easier, quicker, deeper and directly to the lungs.
“Our delivery system, which we call iSPERSE, has several potential advantages over most current approaches,” said Chief Scientific Officer David Hava. “We believe that our delivery efficiency should allow patients who have trouble breathing to inhale the needed drugs into their lungs, with almost no deposition in the throat. We believe that the system should also be able to reliably deliver high doses, and be used with many types of drugs.”
The animated video describes the delivery process of the new particles that transport drugs into the lungs, and the different inhaling systems put in place by Pulmatrix. They include: the PUR0200 bronchodilator for COPD; a PUR1900 anti-fungal for cystic fibrosis; and the PUR1500 for IPF.
“Better drug delivery means better patient outcomes,” Clarke said. “Our inhaled therapies should help patients breathe easier and improve their quality of life.”
Pulmatrix is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company specialized in the development of innovative inhaled therapies for advanced treatments of serious pulmonary diseases. iSPERSE (inhaled Small Particles Easily Respirable and Emitted) technology is patented.