Third Pole Therapeutics Announces Inhaled Nitric Oxide Strategic Collaboration with Actelion, a Janssen Pharmaceutical Company of Johnson & Johnson

BOSTON, March 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Third Pole Therapeutics, a privately held company developing and delivering transformative cardio-pulmonary therapies, announced today that it has entered into a strategic collaboration to work with Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a Janssen pharmaceutical company of Johnson & Johnson. The collaboration will bring the global resources and know-how of the largest and most respected healthcare company to Third Pole's simple, convenient, economical, lightweight, and proprietary platform technology, capable of expanding access to potentially life-saving inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) therapy worldwide.

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Third Pole's breakthrough iNO technology platform produces pure inhalable nitric oxide from air for immediate therapeutic use. Third Pole's more convenient and portable technology promises to remove the logistical constraints and economic burden of compressed gas-cylinder-delivered iNO therapy, facilitating accessibility to more patients outside of level III units in apex institutions and regional perinatal centers.

Actelion is a leader in the science and treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a long-term, life-threatening cardiopulmonary disorder characterized by abnormally high blood pressure within the arteries in the lungs. The goal of this collaboration is to leverage Actelion's expertise in pharmaceuticals and cardiopulmonary products, along with its access to medical device expertise, to develop and commercialize Third Pole's therapeutic iNO platform.

David Zapol, Third Pole Therapeutics founder and CEO, said, "A strategic collaboration with the largest healthcare company in the world will ultimately benefit patients. Third Pole's relationship with Johnson & Johnson began in May 2017 when our team won the Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS @ M2D2 QuickFire Challenge. Our relationship has been fruitful, in part because of our shared belief that the future of healthcare is about finding the best solutions for patients and caregivers. Their unique capabilities make them an ideal strategic partner for our disruptive iNO platform technology."

Chris Coburn, Chief Innovation Officer, Partners HealthCare System, said, "The first use of inhaled nitric oxide gas occurred at Massachusetts General Hospital nearly 30 years ago. Third Pole has combined their own talented team, including some of the original MGH inventors of iNO therapy, with support from like-minded companies, investors and the NIH to make iNO therapy broadly accessible to patients."

NO is a gas produced by the body to relax the smooth muscle around blood vessels. When inhaled, low doses of NO can selectively decrease the lung's blood vessel resistance without causing a dangerous drop in systemic blood pressure. In the last two decades, inhaled NO has become a standard of care and has been used for about a million patients worldwide, including newborn infants with acute pulmonary hypertension in the US and adults and children with pulmonary hypertension before and after cardiac surgery in other countries. The currently available tank-based system of delivering therapeutic gaseous NO, however, is outmoded and cumbersome, limiting NO to the largest hospitals in developed regions that have the infrastructure to transport, maintain, return and refill heavy compressed gas cylinders. Even in these markets, the large, heavy tanks hamper transport of patients within a hospital or between facilities, and make the use of NO nearly impossible outside of hospital settings in the developed world. Third Pole's revolutionary technology electronically generates pure, functionally equivalent NO on site and on demand from air, enabling the use of inhaled NO for new therapies worldwide.

About Third Pole Therapeutics

Third Pole Therapeutics' mission is to develop and deliver transformative cardio-pulmonary therapies capable of expanding access to life-saving treatments worldwide. Third Pole's technology generates pure inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) for therapeutic use and delivers it to the patient on demand, providing clinicians with greater flexibility than with iNO therapeutics stored in compressed gas cylinders. Third Pole's technology potentially enables the use of iNO across a larger geographic footprint and in therapeutic areas where iNO was less feasible because of the system's reliance on the in-patient model of iNO delivery. Powered by innovative portable technology exclusively licensed from Massachusetts General Hospital, Third Pole's foundational team includes clinicians and researchers with experience of real-world use in critical care settings and beyond. For more information, please visit www.pole3.com.

SOURCE Third Pole Therapeutics