Aerocrine announced the approval of NIOX MINO technology for use in treating asthma by Canada's Therapeutic Products Directorate. NOX MINO which is a medical device intended to determine the measure of degree of inflammation in the airways in a single breath will now be used by Canada’s National Health Service.
“This is a significant milestone for Canadians living with asthma. Measuring and controlling airway inflammation may contribute to improved diagnosis, treatment and disease control,” says Chip Neff, President of Aerocrine Inc.
Asthma is a long lasting condition caused due to inflammation in the airways of the lungs. Higher the inflammation in airway higher will be the sensitivity that makes breathing difficulty. Inflammation a route cause of asthma was impossible to measure in regular clinical practice. Therefore patient’s symptoms and lung function forms basis for diagnosis and treatment.
Aerocrine founders discovered elevated levels of nitric oxide in exhaled breath in asthamatic patients. From then company was involved in developing method to monitor airway inflammation by measuring nitric oxide levels in exhaled breath. Using Aerocrine’s system till now more than 2.5 million patient tests are performed.
3 million Canadians including 12% of Canadian children are asthma affected according to the Asthma Society of Canada. Over the last twenty years asthma prevalance has increased and it is the leading cause of absentism in school and third leading cause of work loss. In canada asthma is responsible for ten preventable deaths per week and every year over twelve billion dollars is spent on asthma.
“Aerocrine’s method to help better control asthma continues to gain acceptance across the world through regulatory approvals, inclusions in clinical guidelines and health insurance systems”, says Paul de Potocki, CEO of Aerocrine AB. “We are excited about this possibility to offer our company’s technology also to people living with asthma in Canada”