Therapyx Receives NIH Award to Pursue a Novel Therapeutic for Genital Tract Infections
Buffalo NY- November 18, 2019. Therapyx is pleased to announce a new SBIR Phase I award to begin development of GneXa10TM, a novel therapeutic against genital tract infection with Gonorrhea (GC). The award, in the amount of $239,162 entitled “Encapsulated anti-IL-10 for the immune therapy of gonorrhea infection” will fund proof of principle studies aimed at establishing the utility of intravaginal delivery of encapsulated anti-IL-10 antibody as a gonorrhea treatment. GneXa10TM is in addition to and separate from the company’s GneX12® product, also aimed at therapeutic GC intervention. The NIH SBIR award, from the Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease to Dr. Yingru Liu Ph.D., will focus on pre-clinical studies based on the original findings of Dr. Michael Russell, our Chief Scientific Officer.
“This new award will expand our efforts to capitalize on Dr. Russell’s discoveries and aims at turning an existing GC infection into a broadly effective therapeutic” said Dr. Dominick L. Auci, Vice President for Research and Development. “There is currently no vaccine against Gonorrhea, and the alarming rise of drug-resistant strains threatens to make infections untreatable. This new award will allow us to continue to explore immune therapies as potential solutions that circumvent antibiotic resistance. Over the next year, we plan to optimize GneXa10 dose and schedule in the mouse and to elucidate the basis of protective immunity. Importantly, we are gaining critical experience in encapsulation of therapeutic antibody products, which represents a new application of our EXStaM platform, hitherto focused almost exclusively on cytokines.”
Therapyx is developing a proprietary drug delivery system based on mild encapsulation of highly potent protein therapeutics into nano/microparticles that preserves bioactivity, achieves controlled tissue specific release, reduced toxicity and shelf-stability at room temperature. Its two lead products TreXTAM® and GneX12® are aimed at IBD and mucosal infections, respectively. For more information on Therapyx, contact the Company’s website at www.therapyxinc.com.
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