Scott Nicholas
Windtree Therapeutics has received $1 million in federal funds to continue to develop an aerosolized KL4 surfactant as a potential drug to prevent radiation-induced lung injuries.
The funds represent the third tranche of a $3 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant the U.S. government awarded to the biotechnology company, Windtree said Thursday.
Windtree noted it believes the KL4 surfactant has potential to cut the risk of lung injuries caused by radiotherapy and a radiological accident or a terrorism threat agent.
The company found that the aerosolized surfactant worked to preserve oxygenation and reduce lung inflammation in animal models that received the treatment early and later in the course of lung injury associated with radiation exposure.
Robert Segal, Windtree principal investigator, and Melpo Christofidou-Solomidou, a research associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, conducts the studies under the grant.
Windtree’s experimental drug/device product AEROSURF comprises a company-developed KL4 surfactant and aerosolization technology.
