Patients with emphysema currently have limited treatment choices. Many patients are treated with steroids and inhaled medications,which often provide little or no benefit.
In recent years, lung volume reduction surgery has become an accepted therapy for advanced emphysema. Lung volume reduction surgery involves the removal of diseased portions of the lung in order to enable the remaining, healthier portions of the lung to function better. This procedure, although effective for many patients, is complicated and is accompanied by substantial morbidity and mortality risk.
Aeris Therapeutics has developed the Biologic Lung Volume Reduction (BLVR) System to achieve lung volume reduction without surgery and its attendant risks. With BLVR, a physician uses a bronchoscope to direct treatment to the most damaged areas of the patient's lungs. The treatment delivers a precisely proportioned proprietary mixture of drugs and biologics which, when combined at the treatment site, form a bioabsorbable gel. The gel is comprised of clotting proteins that deliver the treatment, an antibiotic to prevent infection and drugs designed to remodel damaged areas of the lungs-actually using the body's natural scar formation response to permanently collapse the diseased areas. This reduction in lung volume creates more space for adjacent healthier parts of the lungs to function more effectively.
