P2D Bioscience Receives NIH Funding to Develop Drugs for Lung Disease

CINCINNATI, OH and MUMBAI, INDIA--(Marketwire - Jul 19, 2011) - P2D Bioscience (P2D, Inc.), a pharmaceutical development company, announced today that the company has received a $320,000 grant from the U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The purpose of this grant is to develop a novel class of anti-inflammatory drugs specifically targeting lung diseases, including acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma.

Acute lung injury has a 40-80% mortality rate and currently has no effective treatment. P2D is working with Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center to develop a first-in-class treatment for this underserved population. This first-in-class treatment focuses on inhibiting the activation of neutrophils in lung (lung inflammation) associated with acute lung injury, COPD and asthma. These new drugs target the inhibition of the Rac GTPase pathway either directly by inhibiting Rac GTPase or inhibiting the second step in this inflammatory process, Rac/p67phox binding. Lead compounds were initially identified by Drs. Marie-Dominique Fillippi and Yi Zheng at Cincinnati Children's employing gene targeting studies and preclinical lung inflammation screening models.

"The proposed studies will first assess the validity of the drug target," said Dr. Fillippi, principal investigator on this grant. "We will determine the efficacy of our lead compounds in biochemical studies by identifying their in vitro efficacy in modulating human neutrophil function. The second phase of these studies will assess the safety and pharmacokinetics of our lead compounds. The safe doses of our lead compounds identified in these safety/PK studies will be utilized in efficacy studies employing an in vivo model of acute lung injury."

About P2D Bioscience (P2D, Inc.)

P2D Bioscience is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing treatments for pulmonary and central nervous system diseases. P2D is developing first-in-class treatments for these disorders utilizing novel proprietary chemical compounds. For example, our pulmonary anti-inflammatory compounds are structurally different from current anti-inflammatory treatments for lung disorders (corticosteroids). Additional information about P2D products in development may be found at www.p2dinc.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward looking-statements related to development of P2D's candidate drug products. Words such as, but not limited to, "believe", "could", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "likely", "predict", "should", "suggest" and similar words identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or the timing of specified events to differ materially from those set forth or implied herein including, without limitation, risks associated with preclinical and clinical development, regulatory approval, product commercialization, intellectual property claims and other risks related to P2D's activities.