The medication inhibits excessive mucus formation in the respiratory system. Mucus plays a key function in preserving the health of our lungs and airways by retaining moisture and trapping irritant- and infection-causing particles such as dust and microorganisms.
Millions of people with lung disorders such as asthma and emphysema, which produce symptoms ranging from coughing to severe breathing difficulties, could benefit from a new medicine.
Microscopic hair-like cells known as cilia, which move in a wave-like manner, then convey mucus containing undesired microorganisms and other items out of the body in phlegm.
People with asthma, viral infections, cystic fibrosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an umbrella term for persistent lung disorders such as emphysema, might create excessive mucus.
In some instances, this might result in a life-threatening accumulation that can completely clog the airway.
Current therapies include steroid inhalers to reduce the inflammation that promotes mucus accumulation in asthmatics, as well as mucus-thinning medications for people with COPD and cystic fibrosis.
However, scientists have now developed an alternative.
The investigational medication PEN-SP9 inhibits the action of a protein implicated in excessive mucus formation.
To combat synaptotagmin, scientists from the University of Texas and Stanford University, both in the United States, developed the medication.
This binds to calcium molecules secreted by irritated lung cells, causing an interaction between the two that increases mucus production.
The new medication prevents calcium molecules from attaching to synaptotagmin. The researchers stated, “This is the first chemical that precisely alleviates pathological hypersecretion of mucus.”
The journal Nature reported earlier this year that when tested on mice, the medication lowered mucus production to normal, healthy levels without fully eradicating it. In two to three years, human trials may commence.
Professor James Chalmers, a consultant respiratory physician at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee and the chairman of the British Thoracic Society’s science and research committee, commented on the research as follows: ‘Currently, we have many drugs for respiratory disease, but none that effectively reduce mucus production.
This is an exciting development, although it is still in its infancy.
Some individuals with allergic asthma may be protected from Covid by an excess of mucus protein synthesis.
It is widely known that allergy-induced asthma patients tend to produce more of the mucus protein MUC5AC.
Scientists at the University of North Carolina in the United States have discovered that ‘allergic airways’ that release more of the inflammatory protein IL-13 and manufacture more MUC5AC can prevent the transmission of the virus, according to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
