Cumberland Emerging Technologies and UT Research Foundation Sign License Agreement for New ...( NASHVILLE Tenn. and KNOXVILLE Ten...)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. and KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Nashville-based Cumberland Emerging Technologies, Inc. (CET) and the University of Tennessee Research Foundation (UTRF) today announced they have entered into a license agreement for a promising new asthma treatment discovered at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Under the agreement, CET is providing formulation, grant funding, regulatory and product development assistance in exchange for rights to commercialize the new technology.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090210/CLTU112 )

The joint development project has received more than $190,000 in grant funding, including a recent Phase I grant award of nearly $112,000 from the National Institutes of Health under the Small Business Technology Transfer program. Additional grant funding was provided by the University of Tennessee Research Foundation and CET. The grants will support continued study of a technology designed to prevent remodeling of airway smooth muscle and thereby reduce or eliminate asthmatic reaction in pediatric patients.

Airway remodeling occurs when the cells or muscles that line the airway become inflamed and can result in decreased lung function. Currently, there is no treatment available that prevents remodeling of the airway smooth muscle. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, more than 6.8 million children under age 17 in the United States suffer from asthma.

"Our mission at UTRF is to support the research enterprise and find ways to take research results to the marketplace in a way that benefits society," said Fred Tompkins, President of UTRF. "With the expertise and commitment of CET's development team, we are one step closer to a treatment that could reduce -- and even prevent -- asthm
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