Lung Therapeutics pursues innovative treatments for underserved, life-threatening lung conditions. Our therapies for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis and Loculated Pleural Effusion bring hope to patients whose only treatment options may be invasive surgery or costly and ineffective drugs. We aim to create better pharmaceutical treatment options for IPF, LPE, and other underserved lung conditions.
Contact Us Now For More InformationLung Therapeutics was born out of the 30 years of clinical practice and academic research conducted by Dr. Steven Idell, the company’s co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Idell is a board-certified internist and pulmonologist who has directed
the Intensive Care Units at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia and the Texas Lung Injury Institute at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (UTHSCT), Texas. Dr. Idell continues to treat lung injury patients in his clinical practice while also leading his academic research laboratory. Dr. Idell’s UTHSCT research team includes Associate Professors, Senior Research Fellow, graduate students and lab technicians. He currently serves as Vice President for Research, a Professor of Medicine and Temple Chair of Pulmonary Fibrosis at UTHSCT. Dr. Idell has had $27 M in continual funding from the NIH for the last 30 years. During one of these funding awards, he was the director of an NIH-sponsored Program Grant to study the role of the fibrinolytic system in the pathogenesis of lung and pleural disease. Work from that program led to the development of LTI-01 as a treatment for pleural loculation. Another part of his research has led to the development of LTI-03 to treat pulmonary fibrosis. Dr. Idell has published more than 150 research articles related to lung injury and disease and is considered a key opinion leader in this area by the clinical and academic communities.
We strive for first-in-class therapies for life-threatening lung conditions.
Our current pipeline programs focus on two conditions - Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) and Loculated Pleural Effusion (LPE). For each of the current programs, Lung Therapeutics seeks orphan drug status to expedite product development and provide treatments sooner for these currently underserved conditions.
Lung Therapeutics is currently developing a drug technology, LTI-03, for the treatment of IPF. LTI-03 has shown promise to resolve the disease, even returning healthy lung function. This new molecular entity (NME), targets a different cellular signaling pathway than other pharmaceutical approaches. Preclinical evidence suggests that LTI-03 sustains survival of damaged lung cells throughout this novel mechanism of action, in addition to slowing and resolving the downstream progress of fibrosis. It represents the potential for a radical change in lung fibrosis treatment.
LTI-01 (single chain urokinase plasminogen activator, or scuPA), is being studied for safe clearance of fibrinous scar tissue in patients with loculated pleural effusion. Current treatments include fluid drainage, off-label drug therapy, or major invasive surgery. By providing a new option to clear fibrinous buildup pharmaceutically, the clinical pathway for these patients is significantly improved, enabling simple drainage of pleural fluid without surgery. LTI-01 is the first pharmaceutical agent to enter into clinical trials for treating non-draining CPE/empyema. A Phase 1b clinical trial is being conducted at three sites each in Australia and New Zealand. LTI-01 has been designated an orphan drug by both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Commission (EC).