VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lui Franciosi is pleased to announce that Franciosi Consulting Ltd. will be assessing the use of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) for the treatment of asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). GAGs are long linear polysaccharides consisting of repeating disaccharide units (i.e., two-sugar units) that participate in many biological processes, in particular, cell signalling and development, anti-coagulation and tumour progression. Their large structural diversity makes them useful in the discovery of new drugs. Heparin is a clinically useful GAG with anticoagulant properties. The use of inhaled unfractionated heparin has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and mucolytic effects with the potential to modify the progression of asthma and COPD. However, its major side effect continues to be bleeding. Therefore, there is a need for a better heparin-like molecule which is anti-inflammatory but with minimal anticoagulant effects. Lui Franciosi states, “While reviewing the existing scientific literature and searching out which GAG molecules could be useful for treating COVID-19, it makes sense to also look at their potential effects in asthma and COPD. These diseases share common inflammatory pathways which make them liable to heparin but also to current steroid therapies which also have unique side effects of their own.”

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Franciosi Consulting Assessing New Potential Treatments for Asthma and COPD