The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health has awarded a 3-year, $3 million grant to Pulmotect for clinical studies of its PUL-042 inhaled therapy for the treatment of respiratory infections in cancer patients whose immune systems have been compromised, the company has announced. In 2012, Pulmotect received a a $7.1 million grant from the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas.
Pulmotect is also developing for PUL-042 for the prevention of the flu and other respiratory infections. According to the company, PUL-042, a combination of two synthetic toll-like receptor agonists, Pam2 and ODN, stimulates the innate immune system to allow the body to combat bacterial, viral, and fungal infections in the lungs.
Pulmotect President and Co-founder Brenton Scott commented, “With the successful results of our Phase 1 study, we are really pleased to be moving into these next stages of development. Our priority and focus has always been to show the effectiveness of this drug in helping those most at risk for developing potentially deadly respiratory infections.”
The company said that it expects to begin Phase 1b/2a clinical studies in leukemia and stem-cell transplant patients at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center by the end of the year.
Read the Pulmotect press release.
