UA Licenses Patented Nitric Oxide-Releasing Compounds to France's Cathnet Science

April 3, 2002 - The University of Akron Research Foundation has granted a license to CathNet-Science for the use of specialty pharmaceutical chemicals developed and patented at The University of Akron. The licensing agreement concerns nitric oxide-releasing compounds that can be developed to help heart patients recover from surgery.

Dr. Daniel Smith, a UA professor of chemistry, and his team developed the specialty pharmaceutical compounds and patented them in 1998.

These pharmaceuticals can have multifaceted uses in post-cardiac surgical care, and in the treatment of male and female sexual dysfunction, as topical treatments for parasitic skin lesions, for psoriasis and for the promotion of tissue repair, Smith says.

CathNet-Science, based in Paris, is one of the leading European manufacturers of medical devices for minimally invasive vascular therapy.

The licensing agreement with CathNet-Science permits the company to develop medical products for use in cardiovascular, intravascular and intervascular applications, Smith says. In return, CathNet-Science will provide ongoing research funds and royalties to The University of Akron.

The University hopes to license these pharmaceutical compounds for additional applications in the future, says Ken Preston, UA's associate vice president for research and director of technology transfer.

With the license from UA, CathNet-Science initially will focus on specialty chemicals known as lipophilic spermine derivatives, which contain high concentrations of nitric oxide (NO).

NO inhibits inflammation and platelet aggregation, promotes tissue repair and enhances the re-growth and repair of the thin membrane that lines coronary passages (a process known as re-endothelialization) while preventing the activation and migration of smooth muscle cells in the arterial wall. NO release from the compounds patented by The University of Akron varies from minutes to weeks.

CathNet-Science expects to optimize the formulation of these NO-releasing chemicals and develop coatings for its coronary stents that will help to prevent restenosis the human body's natural tendency to narrow arterial passages after they have been widened through surgery. Stents are devices used to hold surgical grafts in place.

The formulations of these special chemicals are expected to leave no coating on the stent after the treatment period because the nitric oxide-releasing compounds break down into substances that occur naturally in the human body.

With this agreement, CathNet-Science says it is in a position to advance the use of drug-eluting stents to address the underlying mechanisms of restenosis. Currently, drugs used for coronary stent coatings only inhibit growth of the smooth muscle cells.

CathNet-Science is a fully integrated medical device company that designs, develops, manufactures, markets and sells products used in vascular therapy and cardiology. The company has manufacturing facilities and technology centers in France and Denmark, direct sales representation in Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Austria and has a worldwide distributor network and alliances with other companies.