Method of treating ciliary dyskinesia with uridine triphosphates and related compounds

US6420347B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignees

• Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. · US
• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · US

Inventors

• Karla M. Jacobus · Cary, US
• Benjamin R. Yerxa · Raleigh, US
• William Pendergast · Durham, US
• Richard C. Boucher, Jr. · Chapel Hill, US
• Janet L. Rideout · Raleigh, US
• David Drutz · Chapel Hill, US
• Michael James · Raleigh, US
• Monroe Jackson Stutts · Chapel Hill, US
• Cary Geary · Seattle, US
• Edwardo R. Lazarowski · Chapel Hill, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 17, 1998
• Grant date: Jul 16, 2002
• Expiry date: Jul 17, 2018

Classification

• Technology area (CPC A): Human Necessities
• CPC primary: A61K31/70
• WIPO field: Pharmaceuticals
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A method of stimulating ciliary beat frequency in a subject in need of such treatment is disclosed. The method comprises administering to the airways, ears, eyes, or genito-urinary tract of the subject a triphosphate nucleotide such as uridine 5′-triphosphate (UTP), an analog of UTP, or any other analog, in an amount effective to stimulate ciliary beat frequency. This method is useful for treating patients afflicted with ciliary dyskinesia, Kartagener's syndrome, or any other disease involving dysfunction of ciliary movement, such as male infertility caused by impairment of propulsion of the spermatozoa or immune deficiency caused by impairment of ciliary movement in neutrophils or macrophages. Pharmaceutical formulations and methods of making the same are also disclosed. Methods of administering the same would include any liquid suspension (including nasal spray or nasal or eye drops), oral, inhaled by nebulization, topical, injected, suppository, intra-operative by instillation or application, or ex vivo direct application to spermatozoa.