Pharmaceutical Development
Pharmaceutical compositions and uses of gallium maltolate were first patented by Lawrence R. Bernstein.
Christopher Chitambar and his associates at the Medical College of Wisconsin have found that gallium maltolate is active against several lymphoma cell lines, including those resistant to gallium nitrate.
Gallium maltolate is being studied as a potential treatment for primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma; HCC). In vitro experiments demonstrated efficacy against all HCC cell lines tested and a clinical case study produced very encouraging results in a patient with advanced HCC who had not responded to therapy with sorafenib
The activity of gallium against infection-related biofilms, particularly those caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is being studied by Pradeep Singh at the University of Washington, and by others, who have reported encouraging results in mice. Pulmonary P. aeruginosa biofilms are responsible for many fatalities in cystic fibrosis and immunocompromised patients; in general, bacterial biofilms are responsible for significant morbidity and mortality. In related research, locally administered gallium maltolate has shown potent efficacy against P. aeruginosa in a mouse burn/infection model.
Oral gallium maltolate is also being investigated as a treatment for Rhodococcus equi foal pneumonia, a common and often fatal disease of newborn horses. R. equi can also infect humans with AIDS or who are otherwise immunocompromized. The veterinary studies are being conducted by researchers at Texas A&M University, led by Ronald Martens, Noah Cohen, and M. Keith Chaffin.
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