Zylö Receives $225,000 NIH Grant to Further Develop Nitric-Oxide-Releasing Z-pods™ to Treat Erectile Dysfunction

GREENVILLE, SC, Nov. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zylö Therapeutics Inc., developer of the transformational Z-pod™ topical delivery platform, has been awarded a $225,000 Small Business Technology Transfer grant. The grant was sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (a division of the NIH) to further develop Zylö’s proprietary nitric-oxide topical delivery system (called Z-pods™); and the project is titled, “Optimization of microparticle-based topical treatments for treating erectile dysfunction in patients refractory to oral PDE5 inhibitors.”

The principal investigators of the project are Andrew Draganski, Ph.D., Zylö’s head of product formulation and adjunct professor at Clemson University, and Kelvin Davies, Ph.D., professor of urology and professor of physiology and biophysics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

The goal of this development program is three-fold: (i) optimizing the nitric-oxide-releasing platform for clinical translation, both in terms of safety and efficacy; (ii) testing the optimized platform, as a monotherapy, in an animal model of radical prostatectomy; and (iii) testing, in this same model, the monotherapy in combination with the PDE5 inhibitor sildenafil—the active ingredient in Viagra—to determine if a greater response can be obtained with combination therapy.

At the conclusion of the study, a lead Z-pod™ formulation/concentration will be determined for further testing and development for the treatment of neurogenic ED.

Davies commented: “Zylö’s nitric-oxide technology is a potential breakthrough in the treatment of ED in men that are refractory to the PDE5 inhibitors such as Viagra. I look forward to working with our colleagues at Zylö to advance this technology to the next stage.”

Added Draganski, “Our innovative approach to sustainably delivering nitric oxide through topical administration holds great promise for a myriad of clinical applications, including for the treatment of ED. This commitment by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestives and Kidney Diseases is quite validating, and we are grateful to the NIDDK for their funding.”

About Zylö Therapeutics: Zylö has developed a breakthrough topical delivery system that extends the duration-of-effect, improves the solubility/targeting, and/or enhances the product performance of many therapeutic agents. Notably, the Z-pod^™ technology platform has enabled the Patchless Patch^™ concept and has successfully harnessed the therapeutic potential of nitric oxide, one of the most powerful—and short-lived—biomolecules produced by our bodies. For more details please visit our web site, www.zylotherapeutics.com and follow us on Twitter (@ZyloTherapies).