Nitric Oxide Releasing Topical Gel for Burn Wound Healing

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Nitric oxide (NO) gas has been shown to play a significant role in the promotion and regulation of diverse wound healing processes, including burn wounds. NO has also been shown to have promise as an antimicrobial therapeutic and has broad range of effectiveness against human pathogens. Most current nitric oxide therapies (other than inhalation therapies) involve systemic or topical treatments with drugs designed to stimulate inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS) intracellularly. In addition to a role of endogenous NO in wound healing through NOS, improvement of wound healing following exogenous NO has also been reported, including direct application of NO gas or application of topical gels or creams that synthesize NO and other cytotoxic nitrogen oxide species (nitrous acid, NO2). However, of the dozen or more current and pending NO- based pharmaceutical clinical trials, none of the topical approaches utilize an exogenous NO producing gel and thus rely on NOS pathways to generate minute amounts of NO locally. The direct delivery of more therapeutically relevant doses of NO gas for topical/dermal applications has been accomplished, although the method is complicated by NO's instability in air and difficulty to produce in a clinical setting. A more rational NO-based wound healing treatment would be convenient and safe to apply in a clinical setting, have a predictable dose, and would not have chemical impurities thus impacting the wound healing process. Lynntech's team has developed a simple, chemical synthesis methodology for generating sufficiently sustained and high purities of NO ex-situ for dermal applications, and thus allows for application of a topical 'gel' to wound treatments - specifically burns. This proprietary chemical method for the synthesis of NO in a gel format has the potential to be used as a mechanistically multi-functional topical therapeutic for partial thickness burns, and potentially in wound healing for full thickness burns after debridement and also prior to skin grafting. Preliminary results have shown the ability of this chemistry to efficiently produce sustained amounts of NO in a concentration dependant manner, and application of the NO gel to full thickness burns in a rodent model has also shown significant improvements in rate of healing (wound closure) and re-epithelization. In Phase I of this project, Lynntech's team (toxicologist, world-renowned NO expert, burn wound specialist, NO materials chemist, microbiologist and NO biochemist) will pursue analytical, in vitro and in vivo studies in preparation of preclinical trials to be conducted in Phase II. Phase I will focus on characterization and optimization of the chemistry and gel matrix which will allow for a predictable dose on a given burn wound. Also, the project will characterize the antimicrobial effectiveness against clinically burn relevant pathogens and will conclude with in vivo evaluation of a high and low dose treatment of burn wounds using two different dose timing protocols. The purpose of the Phase I and II projects is to complete preclinical trials to support filing of a IND with the FDA and concurrent marketing of the technology to the pharmaceutical sector. Approximately 2.4 million people a year in the United States are treated for burn injuries, with 650,000 of these cases requiring care by a medical professional and 75,000 requiring hospitalization. These patients represent one of the most expensive catastrophic injuries to treat; a patient sustaining burns over 30% of their total body surface may require upwards of $200,000 in hospital, pharmaceutical, and primary care costs. By reducing the time to heal a burn wound and protect against infection by using a single, inexpensive and safe topical gel, patients can expect better healing outcomes, shortened hospital stays and medical care duration, and reduced cost for that care.