The Problem
Despite the potential of topical treatment of lung diseases, common inhalation devices (e.g. inhalers, nebulizers, etc.) are very limited in their delivery abilities: only small particles can be inhaled (<10 μm) and inhalable doses remain low. These drawbacks are directly associated with poor treatment outcomes as well as an ongoing lack of treatment for critical lung conditions.
Endotracheal liquid instillations are used in neonates to overcome some of the shortcomings of aerosols. However, due to stark differences in lung size, this clinical strategy is ineffective in older populations. Liquid instillations are strongly affected by gravity and thus quickly drain into pools, drowning some lung regions while leaving others untreated.
The Solution
To overcome these challenges, we propose using liquid foam as a carrier for delivery of therapeutics to the lungs (i.e. Liquid Foam Therapy or LIFT). Such an approach represents a paradigm shift in the field of pulmonary drug delivery. Unlike liquid installations, foam is “gravity defiant”: LIFT distributes homogeneously throughout the lungs with capabilities of delivering doses of >100 ml to each lung.
LIFT opens a broad range of new treatment opportunities, some examples include surfactant replacement therapy in ARDS where large doses are required; direct delivery of stem cell into the lungs, which are too large to be inhaled, for IPF, ARDS and COPD patients; and lung cleansing after inhalation of lethal chemicals (e.g. chlorine gas poisoning).
Funding
ERC POC – European Research Council, Proof of Concept (2018-2020)
MOST – Ministry of Science and Technology Israel, Medical Devices (2018-2021)
Polak Fund for Applied Research, Technion (2018-2019)
Rubin Fund for Medical Sciences, Technion (2020)
MOST – Ministry of Science and Technology Israel, COVID-19 (2020)
American Technion Society (ATS)
Technion Society of Japan
Patents
Sznitman J. and Ostrovski Y. Foam for pulmonary drug delivery. US20190274951A1
* Provisional patent submissions not listed.
Team
Dr. Yan Ostrovski
Dr. Rami Fishler
Avital Frenkel
Seffi Greenblatt
Simon Dorfman
Osnat Nixon
Prof. Josué Sznitman, PI
Advisors
Dr. Yoav Medan
Prof. Dan Waisman, MD
Ziv Artzi, CPA
Contact
Avital, favital@bm.technion.ac.il