According to Dr. Riccardi, a number of calcilytics previously failed in clinical trials for the treatment of osteoporosis, and her team is actively working to repurpose some of those drugs for the treatment of asthma and possibly COPD. For the time being, she said, the focus is on treating steroid-insensitive asthma.
During the Q&A period after Dr. Riccardi’s lecture, 2010 Charles G. Thiel Award winner Mike Newhouse appeared to speak for a number of attendees when he remarked, “That was the most interesting thing I’ve heard in decades.”
In the next session, titled “Frontiers in New Drug and Product Development,” Masahiro Sakagami of Virginia Commonwealth University presented a talk on “Reconstructing the Emphysematous Lung: A Critical Appraisal and Case Study” in which he discussed pre-clinical data showing that VCU’s CDSO3, a sulfated dehydropolymer of caffeic acid, has the potential not only to inhibit alveolar damage in emphysema but also to reverse the damage, returning the alveoli to a seemingly healthy state.
VCU student Tien Truong also presented data on CDSO3 from her poster titled “Sulfated Caffeic Acid Oligomer: Reversal of Functional and Morphological Impairment in Emphysema Induced with VEGF Receptor Blockade” during the Posters on the Podium session. Another Posters on the Podium speaker, Diane Nelson of Carnegie Mellon University also discussed data on treating alveolar damage from her poster “In Vitro Evaluation of Lysophosphatidic Acid for use in Perfluorocarbon-Based Pulmonary Delivery to Enhance Alveolar Repair Following Acute Lung Injury.”
And Matthias Van Woensel of the University of Leuven, presented encouraging data on the development of an intranasal therapy for the deadly brain tumor glioblastoma multiforme from his poster titled “Development of siRNA-loaded Chitosan Nanoparticles targeting Galectin-1 for the Treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme via Intranasal Administration.”
Following the Posters on the Podium session, Van Woensel’s work was recognized with the newly established VCU RDD Peter R. Byron Graduate Student Award, which includes registration and travel reimbursement of up to $2,000.
