Designed alginate products providing symptom relief for patients suffering from Cystic Fibrosis (CF)

To design functionality alginates formulated into products/medical devices providing symptom relief for patients suffering from CF offering significant improvement in efficacy over current treatments. The CF-mucus dissolution technology (product trade mar k EPIPHARM) aims at relieving the symptoms these patients suffer from by disrupting the thick mucus complex build-up (alginate fragments designed to interact with and disrupt the CF alginate mucin aggregate), increasing the respiratory efficacy, and resto ring normal mucus functionality. Normal mucus functionality represents restoration of the patients respiratory passage first line defense system. CF is the most common, fatal, inherited genetic disease affecting mainly young and adult Caucasians. A build -up of thick mucus interacting with exocellular matrix from infectious bacteria in the lungs cause severe respiratory problems. Typical CF-mucus aggregates consists of a mixture of mucin and non-mucin components like DNA, lysozyme, actin, transferrin, IgA and bacterial polysaccharides such as alginates from the exo skeleton of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Together these components form a sticky gel-like matrix causing mucus (sputum) stasis, recognized by ineffective mucociliary clearance. The condition often r esults in severe inflammation caused by bacterial colonization. Currently, there are no well functioning and established therapies and medications available for relieving the symptom for patients suffering from CF. The majority of ongoing development prog rams on CF medication/treatment are focused on the gene defects, the results of which are uncertain and lie far into the future. Currently there is a limited number of CF medications available targeting the dissolution of mucus aggregates. Despite unsatis factory efficacy, Pulmozyme (DNAse based product) contributed NOK 1,2 billion to Genentech's 2004 revenue illustrating the large market potential for more efficient CF sputum dissolution/disruption medications.