Aeolus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., recently released data confirming the efficacy of AEOL 10150 as a medical countermeasure against sulfur mustard gas inhalation.
Research for the study was conducted by Dr. Brian Day, vice chair of research at National Jewish Health, in collaboration with the U.S. Army Medical Institute for Chemical Defense and funded by the CounterACT Program, the National Institutes of Health Officer of the Director, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Using a newer, sustained-release formulation, 28 animals were followed for 28 days after inhaled exposure to a lethal dose of sulfur mustard gas. Half of the animals in the study were given AEOL 10150, while the other hand served as a control group. Survival at 28 days in the AEOL 10150 treatment animals improved to 36 percent compared to 14 percent of the control group. Median survival in the treatment group improved from four days to 18 days. An improvement in blood oxygenation in the AEOL 10150 treated group was also shown.
“AEOL 10150 has now been tested in 4 studies with a total of 100 rats and in each study the drug has demonstrated a significant improvement on survival and underlying measures of lung function and lung damage,” John L. McManus, president and CEO at Aeolus, said. “The compound’s efficacy against chemical threats adds to its demonstrated efficacy as a medical countermeasure against radiological threats and its promise as a therapy for patients suffering from Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis and the side effects of radiation for cancer therapy. We look forward to initiating clinical studies of AEOL 10150 in IPF patients in the near future to further confirm the drug’s potential lung protection and to provide safety data for our IPF and medical countermeasure programs.”