710711Cocrystal-enabled Inhaled Therapy for Idiopathic Pulmonary FibrosisClosedGRD Proof of ConceptInnovate UKThe project will evaluate the feasibility of inhaled delivery of a cocrystal-enabled known drug to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in-vivo. The 1st therapies for IPF - a growing disease (5000 UK patients diagnosed/year*) with high mortality (50% die in 2-3 years of diagnosis*) were approved in 2014 (Pirfenidone & Nintedanib). These new therapies do not prevent disease progression and as oral treatments have highly undesirable side-effects. The project aims to show that by delivering a more effective drug directly to the lung, the efficacy of treatment can be increased without side effects. There are 4 innovative aspects: 1. Inhalation for IPF is a novel concept & enables drug delivery direct to the site of need, increasing efficacy and minimising undesirable drug exposure. >80% of patients have the lung function to use a dry powder inhaler (DPI)**. 2. The active ingredient will be Tranilast – a Japanese oral asthma drug with a strong safety profile. Tranilast is also well validated as an anti-fibrotic agent and therefore has new potential for use in IPF. 3. Cocrystal technology can improve key physical properties for drug molecules. Tranilast is highly insoluble and cocrystal technology will improve lung solubility & biodistribution, maximising performance. This cocrystal application would be a 1st for inhalation. 4. Bleomycin is an accepted IPF disease model but has limitations. The Lung Slice Culture (LSC) model addresses its problems & reduces the number of animals used, but is less validated. The 2 models have not been compared using the same drug. This novel combined approach will further validate both the result and the LSC model for future studies. 5. The processes & devices used for DPI delivery in-vivo are limited and less validated than other methods. The study will develop reliable processes to investigate the delivery concept that matches the envisaged end product (DPI). *NHS data **Prof. G. Jenkins