MORRIA ANNOUNCES PRECLINICAL RESULTS FOR ASTHMA TREATMENT

Morria Biopharmaceuticals has announced that its leading inhaled drug candidate, MRX3, markedly ameliorated asthma symptoms and reduced the levels of several key inflammatory mediators in preclinical trials in animals.

In the study, rats with ovalbumin-induced asthma were pretreated with inhaled MRX3 to test for the drug's efficacy as an asthma preventative therapy. MRX3 was compared to a placebo as well as a standard steroid (dexamethosone). The results show that MRX3 inhalation markedly ameliorated airway-constriction and airway inflammation and suppressed levels of the key inflammatory mediator associated with asthma: cysteinyl-leukotrienes, TNF-alpha and nitric oxide in lung macrophages. Furthermore, the drug had promising efficacy even when given after the asthma attack had already commenced, indicating a possible "reliever" function as well as a "preventer" function.