Working with CFFT, SEER has already begun organizing a Phase I trial. The trial will be conducted through the TDN at four to six sites and will include a total of approximately 25 patients. If, at the completion of the trial, the drug is shown to be safe, further trials will be conducted to examine its efficacy.

Curcumin is a component of the spice, turmeric, and is what gives it its bright yellow color and strong taste. It must be noted that the results obtained with curcumin in mice provide no guarantee that similar results will be obtained in humans. Although curcumin is available as a nutritional supplement in health food stores, the purity and quality of these supplements cannot be verified and they may contain other ingredients that could be harmful to people.

Curcumin is one of nearly two dozen potential therapies in various stages of development in the CF Foundation's pipeline of potential therapeutics. Any of these, if proven effective in clinical trials, could make a dramatic difference in the lives of people with the disease. Some of these potential therapies address the symptoms of CF, while others address the basic defect in CF cells. A list of CF Foundation-supported clinical trials and their descriptions is available on the CF Foundation's Web site at www.cff.