Diamyd awarded three million dollar grant and expands the NTTDS
portfolio
Diamyd Medical AB with collaborators has received a three million dollar
grant from the US National Institutes of Health to develop the Company's
patented Nerve Targeting Drug Delivery System (NTDDS) for prevention of
Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neuropathy. The grant allows Diamyd to
expand the NTDDS technology to also target neuropathy, in addition to
the Company's development portfolio for the treatment of pain.
The three-year grant funds the development of a NTDDS-based drug
candidate, engineered to deliver a neurotrophic factor to nerve cells.
It is hoped that use of NTDDS to deliver such a neurotrophic factor to
cancer patients prior to initiating chemotherapy will prevent peripheral
neuropathy, which is a common side effect of chemotherapy. Typical
symptoms of peripheral neuropathy are numbness, pain, tingling, or
burning sensations in hands and feet.
“Expanding the application of the NTDDS technology from pain therapy to
include the treatment and prevention of neuropathy is something we have
foreseen for a long time,” says Peter Zerhouni, President and CEO of
Diamyd Medical. “With the non-dilutive funding provided by the grant we
can take this step earlier than anticipated.”
The grant covers the costs for advancement of the new drug candidate
through preclinical efficacy, toxicology and biodistribution studies,
manufacturing and filing of an Investigational New Drug application with
the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The grant is awarded to David
Fink, M.D., Professor and Chairman, Department of Neurology at the
University of Michigan, and Darren Wolfe, Ph.D., President of Diamyd,
Inc., as principle investigators.
“Building off our clinical development of NTDDS for the treatment of
pain, this grant will allow us to accelerate the critical steps in
translating our preclinical findings in Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral
Neuropathy into human therapy,” says Darren Wolfe. “Chemotherapy Induced
Peripheral Neuropathy represents an important unmet medical need that we
have identified as an attractive market opportunity for our unique NTDDS
technology.”
“Chemotherapeutics are invaluable tools in the fight against cancer,”
says Dr. David Fink, a long-term collaborator doing research with Diamyd
Medical's NTDDS technology. “Unfortunately, they also produce serious
side effects, such as peripheral neuropathy, which often prevents
administration of higher more effective chemotherapy doses. Treatment
with NTDDS delivering a neurotrophic factor may not only prevent the
development of Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neuropathy, but may also
allow more effective chemotherapy doses to be administered to the
patient.”
Neurotrophic factors are a class of small proteins that were originally
identified by their role in brain development and their ability to
prevent specific cell death of nerve cells during development. In the
adult nervous system, neurotrophic factors promote the survival, growth,
connectivity, and proper function of nerve cells and aid in recovery of
nerve function following injury. Targeted delivery of neurotrophic
factors to nerve cells could lead to treatments for central and
peripheral neurodegenerative diseases.
For more information, please contact:
Peter Zerhouni, Acting President and CEO Diamyd Medical AB (publ.)
Phone: 46 8 661 0026
For press material, please contact:
Andreas Ericsson, Diamyd Medical AB (publ.)
press@diamyd.com (press@diamyd.com)
Phone: 46 8 661 0026
