Stony Brook, NYU Sign Deal to Develop Lung Disease Treatment

A pair of professors from Stony Brook and New York University, along with a team of colleagues, have signed an exclusive agreement with Nostrum Pharmaceuticals to develop a treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease affecting nearly 200,000 Americans that causes death to as many as 40,000 each year.

The treatment in development is known as aerosolized interferon gamma. According to research published by Dr. Gerald Smaldone, a professor in the Stony Brook School of Medicine, and Dr. Rany Condos, an associate professor at the NYU School of Medicine, IPF patients in clinical trials inhaled an aerosol form of interferon gamma three times per week over an 80-week period. Those patients showed no systemic side effects while showing improvement in their condition.

According to the university, the debate on the use of interferon gamma to treat IPF has been ongoing as multiple pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies focus on finding treatments for IPF. An injectable form of interferon gamma failed to pass clinical trials recently.

“Inhaled interferon gamma is safe,” Smaldone said in a statement. “Our study justifies continued clinical development with inhaled interferon.”

As part of the deal, Nostrum will develop ways to manufacture and deliver the interferon gamma treatments.

"IPF represents a significant unmet need with no effective treatment,” said Ronnie Toddywala, executive vice president of Nostrum Pharmaceuticals. “We are excited about licensing this inhaled biologic for this and other significant conditions."