The global burden of inflammatory airways disease
Over half a billion people worldwide suffer from inflammatory airways disorders, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In addition to the individual suffering, these diseases place a great burden on healthcare systems and generate enormous costs for society. Although inflammation underlies many of these conditions, until recently it has not been possible to take routine measurements of airway inflammation. Aerocrine offers products that can monitor airway inflammation, simply and rapidly, greatly improving the management and control of the underlying disease.

Detecting airways inflammation
Aerocrine’s founders made the discovery that exhaled nitric oxide (NO) was an effective biomarker for airways inflammation. Aerocrine now leads the way in the development of fast and simple products that measure exhaled NO. The sophisticated NIOX Flex is used around the world in clinical research and drug testing, while the hand-held NIOX MINO is one of a new generation of devices for primary care and small hospitals. With just one exhaled breath the clinician and patient have an accurate measure of the extent of airways inflammation and can optimise treatment to the individual.

Regular monitoring of airways inflammation
Continuous monitoring of airways inflammation is a potentially enormous application, and has parallels with the monitoring of blood-glucose levels in insulin-dependent diabetics, a market worth US$650 billion. Aerocrine’s objective is to build an internationally successful company that will sell its products on all of the world’s major markets for the benefit of patients, clinicians and healthcare institutions. Through further development, Aerocrine aims to maintain and enhance its position as a leader in the measurement of exhaled NO.

Further information
More details on all of these topics can be found in the Aerocrine 2007 Annual Report.