NOTA Laboratories, an Ann Arbor technology company focused on proprietary nitric oxide (NO) delivery systems to treat a wide variety of acute and chronic respiratory and inflammatory illnesses, has signed a joint development agreement with NGK Spark Plugs of Nagoya, Japan.
NGK also owns CAIRE Inc., a supplier of oxygen concentrators for home, clinic, and hospital use and where NOTA’s NO systems are expected to have a synergistic impact.
The company has two patented platform technologies that inexpensively generate NO “on-demand.” The company’s systems are compact and suitable for the hospital, clinic, and in-home/ambulatory use.
NOTA’s NOGEN System generates NO continuously for up to six months by the electrochemical reduction of nitrite, while the company’s LANOR System uses light to produce NO from a filmstrip coated with a proprietary chemical mixture. LANOR also is small, lightweight, and can be battery operated, designed to be ideal for both emergency and in-home use.
Nitric oxide is produced in our sinuses, blood vessels, and in other parts of the body where it acts as an antiviral, antibacterial, vasodilator, anti-inflammatory, and antithrombotic. It is a key component of the body’s immune response to infection.
NOTA’s systems can be used to augment the body’s NO production for potentially life-saving applications like persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN), reducing systemic inflammation response syndrome (SIRS) during and after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) surgery, for use in treating respiratory infections and their associated inflammatory response, and for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an application where many oxygen concentrators are used.
“We are delighted to partner with NGK whose expertise in design, engineering and manufacturing will help accelerate our products to market,” says Malcolm Kahn, CEO of NOTA.
NOTA’s other proprietary NO delivery technologies, which are single-use infection-fighting disposables, including a sinus spray, a sachet that can be placed into a face mask and two catheter products, have been spun out into a separately run startup, NOxygen Therapeutics.
“The collaboration with NOTA will allow NGK and its CAIRE oxygen concentrator business provide broader solutions to COPD patients where the use of NO will help reduce exacerbations and improve their quality of life,” says Glenn Davis, president of NGK Medical.
