National Jewish Licenses Technology for Treating Airway Hyperresponsiveness

National Jewish Medical and Research Center has licensed its patented technology for treating airway hyperresponsiveness to Innate Pharma, a biotechnology company in Marseille, France. Innate Pharma will have the right to use the technology and its own proprietary compounds to develop a potential medication for asthma and other respiratory diseases.

National Jewish researchers, including Willi Born, Ph.D, Erwin Gelfand, M.D, Michael Lahn, MD, and Arihiko Kanehiro, MD, PhD, identified a method of reducing airway hyperresponsiveness by stimulating immune-system cells known as gamma-delta T cells. Airway hyperresponsiveness is a heightened sensitivity of the airways to allergens or other irritants, which can cause the muscles surrounding the airways to contract and cause difficulty breathing. Airway hyperresponsiveness is a hallmark symptom of asthma, and also plays a role in other respiratory diseases.

Innate Pharma will have the right, under National Jewish's patents, to develop its proprietary phosphoantigen compounds specifically for the treatment of respiratory diseases characterized by airway hyperresponsiveness.  Currently, Innate's compounds target gamma-delta cells for treatment of cancer and other diseases.

Under the agreement, National Jewish has, under certain conditions, the right to receive an upfront fee, reimbursement of patent costs, development milestone fees, and royalty payments on sales of Innate Pharma's drug(s) in certain respiratory indications.

National Jewish Medical and Research Center is an academic medical center devoted to research and treatment of patients of all ages suffering from respiratory, allergic and immune-system diseases, including asthma, tuberculosis, emphysema, severe allergies, AIDS, cancer, lupus and other autoimmune diseases. It has been named by U.S. News & World Report as the #1 respiratory hospital in the nation for ten years in a row.

Innate Pharma is a European biopharmaceutical company that develops first-in-class drugs targeting the innate immune system. This innovative approach - currently in clinical development - opens the way to new therapeutic solutions in cancer, the primary focus of the company, as well as in infectious diseases and chronic inflammatory pathologies.