SANTA FE, N.M. & AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Respira Therapeutics, a product development company focused on inhaled therapeutics to improve patients’ lives, introduces the company’s Dry Powder Inhaler (DPI) as a breakthrough solution for the pharmaceutical industry. Based on proprietary drug engine technology (DET), Respira Therapeutics’ DPI significantly improves therapeutic performance and enables addressing the unmet medical needs of patients with severe respiratory diseases.
A First in Class DPI – flow-rate independent and formulation-free
Respira’s DPI provides a solution to the fundamental design and performance problems of existing inhalers - getting enough medicine into the lungs. The company’s DET represents a unique approach with a completely novel mechanism of action for drug targeting to the lungs which delivers medications as single or combination therapies with very high efficiency, previously unachieved.
Dr. Jacques Pappo, Respira President of Discovery and Clinical Development, said, “Respira Therapeutics offers an unprecedented clinical benefit for combination therapy in the treatment of patients with compromised lung function, e.g., moderate and severe COPD where the patients’ inspiratory energy is insufficient to derive therapeutic benefit from currently available inhaled medications. We have consistently found superior performance, in the ranges of 3-4-fold, when compared with available competitor products for these respiratory disease indications.”
Dr. John Dixon, Respira Therapeutics Scientific Advisory Board member and former VP of Drug Discovery at AstraZeneca, commented, “Respira technology brings an ingenious and imaginative approach suitable for a range of agents for respiratory indications. Capacity is not compromised whilst efficiency of delivery is enhanced. In the case of combinations, the different drugs do not need to be stored together but are combined at the point of delivery with a simplicity absent in other approaches. Early results are most encouraging.”
Commercial Advantages of Respira Therapeutics’ DPI
Respira’s DET can be deployed and optimized in short test cycles with a wide range of compounds. In sharp contrast to currently available industry best practices, Respira Therapeutics can realize unmatched performance outcomes in the absence of complex drug formulations or excipients. This advantage, coupled to design simplicity and low cost-of-goods, promises to shorten DPI development timelines, manufacturing costs and eventually approval for a new generation of inhaled medications.
Market Potential and Business Development
Respira Therapeutics’ widely applicable technology allows the company to pursue multiple opportunities in multi-billion dollar markets. The global respiratory product market represents a ~ $52 billion opportunity, with a compounded annual growth rate 9.3%.1 Results from proof-of-concept studies in humans are expected later this month, fully six months ahead of schedule.
The company actively seeks collaborations to commercialize the technology with companies committed to the respiratory and inflammation therapeutic areas.
About Respira Therapeutics
Respira Therapeutics is an early-stage product development company focused on pulmonary delivery of therapeutics for respiratory diseases with unmet medical needs. The company realized seed capitalization from the Cottonwood Technology Fund on October 2010 for scientific development and commercialization of its seminal intellectual property on DPI. Proof-of-principle has been achieved and two early partnerships have been established: leading investment company Emergent Technologies, Inc. and Enavail, LLC, enabling access to a broad dry powder drug portfolio for deployment to respiratory disease markets.
Respira Therapeutics’ DPIs have the potential for best-in-class, and are uniquely positioned to replace currently marketed devices and to broaden inhaled therapies to drug classes/disease indications in high value therapeutic areas by virtue of superior performance and payload outcomes. The company has conceived a clear regulatory trajectory, engaging de-risked projects following a 505(b)(2) fast-tracking path, and a multi-tiered product strategy. Respira Therapeutics is actively seeking collaborations. For more information, visit www.respiratherapeutics.com.
Reference:
1. Innovations and Pipelines for Respiratory Disorders: Niche markets, new products and future developments, Business Insights Report, 2008.