T he life-shortening genetic disease cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by mutations in the CF gene on both alleles, resulting in failure of a defective CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) glycoprotein to normally regulate chloride and bicarbonate flux at the airway surface. According to a leading theory of CF pathogenesis, the “volume depletion” hypothesis, this abnormal anion transport leads to reduced airway surface liquid, airway dehydration, and impairedmucociliary clearance, resulting in vulnerability to airway obstruction, microbial infection, and inflammation. In 1991, investigators at the University of North Carolina discovered that triphosphate nucleotides, such as adenosine5’-triphosphate and uridine-5’-triphosphate, stimulated chloride secretion in both normal and CF respiratory epithelia, offering a potential bypass mechanism for defective CFTR. Triphosphate nucleotides transduce a signal by binding to purinergic receptors on respiratory epithelial cells specifically responding to purine and pyrimidine nucleotides, termed P2Y2 receptors. This leads to release of intracellular calcium and activates calcium-dependent chloride channels (CaCCs) distinct from CFTR. In vitro tissue culture studies have confirmed that adenosine-5’-triphosphate and uridine5’-triphosphate can restore liquid transport in CF cultures within a few minutes, enhance tracheal mucus velocity in sheep models, and acutely increase sputum volume and mucociliary clearance in smokers. Additional actions of P2Y2 agonists also have been reported from cell culture experiments, including stimulation of ciliary beat frequency, increased mucin secretion from goblet cells and surfactant from type II alveolar cells, and inhibition of epithelial sodium absorption, the net sum of these plausibly resulting in improved airway hydration and increased mucociliary transport that should be beneficial in treating CF. Native triphosphate nucleotides are rapidly metabolized by ectonucleotidases in an autocrine/paracrine manner, however. This has led to the development of dinucleotides, INS365 and INS37217, that are more resistant to enzymatic degradation as assessed in 2 preclinical models: ex vivo exposure of the nucelotides to CF sputum samples and in vitro addition to human nasal ciliated epithelial cell cultures. In these models, these dinucleotides had sufficient stability to merit consideration for drug development, with INS37217 (later named denufosol) outperforming INS365. Denufosol’s