Pilot Therapeutics Holdings, a specialty pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing a portfolio of pharmaceutical and clinically validated over-the-counter (OTC) products, today announced that Pilot's president and chief executive officer, Floyd H. "Ski" Chilton, Ph.D., recently presented at the "Allergy & Asthma: What are the Issues" conference sponsored by the National Association of Managed Care Physicians. Dr. Chilton addressed the Trumbull, Conn., audience of over 90 physicians and managed care executives on the topic of the use of medical foods for chronic diseases, such as asthma. A distinguished group met to address topics such as practice patterns, patient difficulties, OTC medications and pharmacy costs.

Dr. Chilton said, "Our ability to educate managed care professionals on the scientific advances made in medical foods, such as Airozin, is extremely important, particularly when managed care organizations are in a unique position to influence other physician organizations and bring new technologies, such as medical foods, to those who would benefit most." He added that education could also mean savings for consumers and insurance companies because it not only creates awareness on the part of the consumer, but opens the door to more comprehensive management of chronic conditions such as asthma.

Pilot's central mission is to pioneer and develop safer therapeutic options to manage complicated human diseases. "We are moving into an era of self care and disease management and medical foods will likely play a key role in this movement," commented Dr. Chilton. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that there were roughly 1.6 million emergency room visits for asthma in 2001. According to a National Health Interview Survey, 31.3 million people reported having asthma at some time in their life. Frequency of asthma attacks often reflects the degree to which asthma is controlled and correlates with risk for hospitalization. Pilot's new clinically proven product, Airozin, for the long-term dietary management of asthma, is intended to provide a more complete asthma management program and will be available over-the-counter as a medical food.

Healthcare costs are expected to reach $2.8 trillion dollars in 2011, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the spending rate is expected to increase at an annual rate of 7.3 percent. "There now appears to be a trend among health care organizations of focusing on chronic disease management. Medical foods could be an important disease management approach in the future," said Dr. Chilton.

Airozin is the first OTC medical food for asthma and is intended to be added as a dietary component of a patient's existing asthma treatment program. It is an oral, once-a-day medical food that has been tested for safety and efficacy in five clinical trials at major medical centers and contract research organizations. Through the diet, Airozin inhibits the production of leukotrienes, substances that cause many of the signs and symptoms of asthma. Inhibiting leukotrienes is known to decrease the frequency and severity of asthma attacks. Approximately 20 million Americans are afflicted by asthma; this incidence is projected to double by 2020.

Pilot Therapeutics Holdings is a specialty pharmaceutical company that, through its subsidiaries, is developing and commercializing a pipeline of novel prescription and over-the counter (OTC) medical food products. The Company's products are positioned to meet the untapped demand in the marketplace for safe and efficacious natural products and the desire of patients to control their own health. The Company utilizes a proprietary, state-of-the-art fatty acid and genomic profiling research platform, "Functional Liponomics," to discover and develop both medical food and prescription products for chronic inflammatory human diseases. The Company's pipeline of products addresses several disease categories, including asthma, elevated triglycerides associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke, arthritis, cancer, and allergic rhinitis. Its lead OTC medical food product, Airozin, is the first clinically proven OTC maintenance product for the dietary management of asthma, a disease that afflicts approximately 20 million Americans.