The product is now going through clinical trials and is expected to hit the market early in 2001. Designed for asthmatics on inhaled medication, the supplement is a clinically optimized formulation that safely provides anti-inflammatory action by blocking the production of leukotrienes. Clinical studies have shown that the supplement is effective in reducing this key biomarker of lung inflammation. It is also the first natural asthma therapy supported by Phase I human safety data. The formulation was developed in collaboration with DPT Laboratories Ltd. of San Antonio, Texas.
Pilot follows a virtual company model, outsourcing many key activities to strategic partners.
Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem and Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore, Md., provide existing or future bioactive lipid technologies through licensing. For the first product, Quintiles Transnational of Research Triangle Park was contracted for clinical research and registration strategy, and two other companies have signed up to provide raw materials and development assistance. The goal right now is to minimize the infrastructure and use contractors to push the products to market, Tramposch said. Tramposch heads up Pilot s research and development activities. Glenn Kline, the senior managing director of Centennial, tapped Creagh to sit on Pilot s board of directors in 1999.