SickKids Researcher Receives Commercialization Grant for Development of COPD Treatment

Dr. Christine Bear, Senior Scientist and Co-Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Centre at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Professor at The University of Toronto, has been awarded $325,125 to support the commercialization of a novel treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The funding was issued as part of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant Program and is aimed at advancing discoveries towards effective health products and services.

COPD is a common respiratory condition that affects approximately 300 million people globally and accounts for an estimated 3.2 million deaths every year. Characterized by constant inflammation and mucus plugging within the airways, COPD can cause breathing difficulties, chest tightness and fatigue. While the current standard of care helps to manage these symptoms, there remains a pressing need for effective therapies that target mucus obstruction, a primary driver of COPD pathogenesis.

Dr. Bear is addressing this unmet need with a patented class of potentiators capable of modulating the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), an ion channel with the mechanistic potential to reverse mucus plugging.

Having already demonstrated the CFTR potentiators’ ability to clear mucus aggregation in patient-derived cultures, Dr. Bear will use this funding to further investigate the toxicity, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of this potential drug in vivo.

This project is being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Robert Young (Simon Fraser University) and Dr. Vamsee Raju (University of Alabama at Birmingham),

This work is supported by the Director of Licensing and Partnerships at Industry Partnerships & Commercialization (IP&C) at SickKids, Oksana Goncharenko, and IP&C’s Business Development Team. IP&C has been instrumental in securing patent protections and crafting a market strategy for this innovative therapy.