Three ASU faculty members are developing a side effect-free relaxant for smooth muscles in association with Arizona Biodesign Institute. The drug is being called the first of its kind.
The trio, professors Colleen Brophy, Lokesh Joshi and Alyssa Panitch, said they expect their completed product to greatly reduce the failure rate of heart bypass surgeries. They were awarded a five-year, $700,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health this year.
"What happens during a heart bypass procedure is a vein graft is completed to bypass damaged arteries," Joshi said. "Unfortunately, when the vein is removed, it spasms, causing damage to the interlining of the blood vessels."
Panitch said that between 30 and 70 percent of all bypass procedures are ultimately unsuccessful due to various reasons, but vein-graft spasms are suspected to be a substantial factor.
"If we are successful, this is going to have a significant impact on the success rate of that procedure," she said. "What my colleagues and I are attempting will not only improve quality of life for these patients, it will also save lives that might have otherwise been lost."
Joshi said the drug is remarkable, not for what it does, but for what it doesn't do.
"With the few similar drugs currently on the market, there are severe side effects because of lack of specificity whereas the drug we are developing will bypass those biochemical reaction networks, avoiding any side effects," he said. "It will be the first of its kind."
Current drugs work to relax veins by clinging to the outsides of cells and working their way in, causing side effects such as low blood pressure. This drug will pass through cell membrane and work from the inside.
"What we are doing is really amazing," he said. "Technology is advancing to the point where researchers can specifically tailor products to do what is needed to be done and nothing else."
Vein-graft spasm prevention is just one of many possible applications for this specific drug, Joshi said.
"Basically, any smooth muscle-related disease, for example asthma, will be curable with this drug," he said.
Panitch said it is reasonable to estimate that this drug will be in use and on the marketplace in six years. The three formed a company, AzERx Inc., to expedite the development process.
"I think in a reasonably short amount of time, people are going to get to see how truly unique and amazing this drug is," she said. "This is quite an advancement from what is on the market today."
Reach the reporter at jason.samuels@asu.edu.
