Asthma breakthrough may be near
Published: January 31, 2006
It’s not clear how long the effects of thermoplasty last but data collected so far shows that smooth muscle doesn’t grow back for at least three years.
The market for asthma drugs is worth more than $10 billion and it’s growing as prevalence of the disease continues to rise around the globe. Most patients respond to drugs already on the market, sold by industry giants like GlaxoSmithKline.
But 5 to 15 percent of patients, which add up to a U.S. market worth $3 billion according to Asthmatx’ estimates, don’t respond and this is the group the company is targeting initially. The price of the treatment, and whether it will ultimately require one or several procedures, hasn’t been determined yet.
“For those of us who take care of these patients all of the time, we sometimes find ourselves frustrated with traditional therapies,” says Dr. E. Rand Sutherland, a pulmonary physician and assistant professor of medicine at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver. “There’s no procedure-based approach to treat asthma. If it’s effective, it really will be a novel way to treat asthma.”
Dr. Sutherland, who is participating in the AIR2 trial, says the device is generating excitement in the medical community and has attracted interest from most of the major asthma treatment centers in the US.
It has also drawn the attention of some industry heavyweights, says Dr. French. Boston Scientific, for example, owns about 10 percent of the company while some of the country’s top medical device firms have had discussions with Asthmatx, Mr. French says.
The 25-employee company started life as a spin-out in December 2003 from Broncus Technologies, a Mountain View-based company targeting the emphysema market and founded by Dr. Michael Laufer and Menlo Ventures in 1997.
Since its inception, Asthmatx has raised $42 million in two venture rounds that have included Polaris Venture Partners, MedVenture Associates and HBM BioCapital, among others.
Mr. French says the company will seek one more financing of between $20 millon and $30 million to bring the product to market.
“We have begun thinking about our next financing and are currently considering multiple paths — both traditional and non-traditional investors and the public market,” says Mr. French. “And there’s a great deal of interest from the corporate folks.”
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