The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has published a notice in the Federal Register regarding the availability of intellectual property related to the use of inhaled thrombin inhibitors for the treatment of lung fibrosis caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. The notice says that the technology “is available for licensing to achieve expeditious commercialization of results of federally-funded research and development” and that research collaboration is also an option.
According to the notice, nebulized thrombin inhibitors for the treatment of COVID-19-induced lung fibrosis are currently in pre-clinical development at NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). A provisional patent application (63/388,498) covering the technology was filed on July 12, 2022.
The agency suggests that the inhaled formulations would have a competitive advantage in that the technology “Addresses the pathology at the proper location instead of indiscriminately,” noting that IV heparin has failed to treat SARS-CoV-2 induced lung fibrosis effectively.
Read the NIH notice.
