Overview of your current project
A new drug for lung fibrosis that began developing a few years ago and it shows promise for treating certain life-threatening effects of COVID-19. At present, we’re working to secure funding for a clinical trial. In lung fibrosis, the drug, called sobetirome, mimics the effects of thyroid hormone therapy, which heals scarring and improves cell function in lungs — but sobetirome lacks the toxic effects of thyroid hormone on heart and skeletal muscle.
My team, along with those of Dr. Charles Dela Cruz, director of Yale’s Center for Pulmonary Infection Research and Treatment, and Dr. Patty J. Lee, a former Yale faculty member now at Duke University — recently discovered that sobetirome also showed promise in preventing and treating Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), a life-threatening condition that allows fluid to leak into the lungs. ARDS is common in COVID-19 patients, particularly among older patients, and the condition can lead to respiratory failure and death.
It was surprising how effective sobetirome was in mouse models. We saw significant improvement. The drug has not yet been tested for ARDS in humans, but once we secure needed funding, we can quickly move it to trial and FDA approval.