Ardsley-based biotechnology company Acorda Therapeutics Inc. has received a $1.4 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop an inhaled treatment for infant respiratory distress syndrome to be used with Acorda’s proprietary ARCUS technology.
Rick Batycky, chief technology officer of Acorda, said an inhaled treatment would allow expanded access to care for infants in developing countries, where there are barriers to traditional treatments of the disease.
ARCUS is an inhaler system that allows for the delivery of dry-powder medications in large measured doses. The technology is already in use in clinical trials as a therapeutic treatment for Parkinson’s disease.
In collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the grant will support Acorda’s development of a portable and easily administered inhaled form of a dry-powder version of lung surfactant, which is used to treat respiratory distress syndrome, or RDS.
RDS is a breathing disorder most commonly found in infants born prematurely and causes fluid to collect in the lungs’ air sacs. It can be fatal or lead to severe, chronic health issues caused by a lack of oxygen getting to the baby”™s brain and other organs. The syndrome is caused by an infant’s inability to produce enough surfactant, a liquid lining the inside of the lungs.
Delivering liquid surfactant to the lungs via intubation is the standard of care, but intubation poses problems in the developing world due to resource and infrastructure limitations, including the need to refrigerate surfactant and the lack of access to sterile medical supplies, potable water and health care professionals trained in intubation.
