UCD Researchers Behind Novel Mucolytic Drug Receive 2023 NovaUCD Innovation Award
Professor Stefan Oscarson, Professor in Chemical Biology at the UCD School of Chemistry and Professor Stephen Carrington, retired Professor of Veterinary Anatomy at the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine, have been named recipients of the 2023 NovaUCD Innovation Award. They were presented with the Award by Professor Mark Rogers, Acting UCD President as part of the annual presentation of the NovaUCD Innovation Awards. (Professor Oscarson & Professor Carrington are pictured above with their award)
Professor Oscarson and Professor Carrington received the Award in recognition of their successful and longstanding research collaboration with Professor John Fahy, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to understand why mucus in the lungs of people with respiratory diseases is thick, sticky and difficult to cough up and to develop new treatment strategies to help such patients breathe more easily. The UCD-UCSF research collaboration led to the filing of a patent application for a novel mucolytic drug to address a large unmedical need for patients with mucus-associated lung diseases. These diseases include, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), asthma, cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis.
Aer Therapeutics, the first joint UCD-UCSF spin-out company, was founded by Professor Oscarson and Professor Fahy, and subsequently Jim Shaffer, an experienced biotech executive, was recruited as CEO. The company, which is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, licensed the patented novel mucolytic drug in 2022 and recently closed a significant funding round. The funding will enable initial safety studies in patients and a proof-of-concept clinical trial in patients with COPD.
Professor Stephen Carrington said of receiving the Award, “It is hugely gratifying to see a novel inhaled approach to treating lung diseases with excess mucus being commercialised by Aer Therapeutics from the intellectual seeds planted nearly 20 years ago when I first met John Fahy. This drug has the potential to meet a wide range of clinical need and make a difference to many lives. It has been a great pleasure to work with John and Stefan, and their respective teams. They have given far more to this success of this research than my own humble contributions. In accepting this NovaUCD Innovation Award with Stefan, I am honoured to see our research and that of our teams, alongside the work of other collaborators who joined the project after my involvement, recognised through UCD.”
Stephen Carrington retired as Professor of Veterinary Anatomy at the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine in January 2016. His research expertise is in epithelial mucin biosynthesis and turnover with a particular interest in the composition and barrier functions of mucins in epithelial pathologies, reproduction, and host pathogen interactions.
For more information on the NovaUCD Innovation Awards, see the NovaUCD website