Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals Awarded $3M NIH Small Business Grant to Advance TBI and Concussion Therapeutic

Cambridge, MA, September 19, 2018 – Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held pharmaceutical company, announced today that it has been awarded a $3 million Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant from the National Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke (NINDS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  The grant provides funding to advance its promising neuroprotectant drug candidate AST-004 for traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and concussions through preclinical studies.

In the U.S. alone, ~2.6 million people sustain a TBI each year. An additional 4 to 5 million concussions (mild TBIs) occur in sports and recreational activities and are not treated in hospitals and emergency rooms. There are no approved treatments for TBI, and most TBI patients are discharged from the hospital with no pharmacological treatment.  There is a substantial need for new therapies that limit the damage from TBIs.

The company is advancing AST-004 as an acute treatment to patients with a TBI or concussion.  In vitro and in vivo animal studies of AST-004 have demonstrated significant neuroprotection when administered after trauma.  “We continue to see significant efficacy in a broad array of preclinical models that compels AST-004 be advanced and studied in human clinical trials,” said Dr. Theodore Liston, Vice President of Research at Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals, and Principal Investigator for the grant. “With this NIH grant, we will perform FDA-required toxicology, drug metabolism and safety pharmacology studies that will advance AST-004 to a first-in-human Phase I clinical trial.”

William Korinek, CEO at Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals, commented, “the NIH small business awards are highly competitive, and we are proud that the NINDS agreed with the importance of advancing our research.  This award is further validation of the robustness of our research data, and the potential to bring a life-changing treatment to millions of trauma patients.”

For more information about Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals please contact Dr. William Korinek at 617-444-8765 or [email protected].

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About Astrocyte Pharmaceutical Inc.
Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a privately held drug development company dedicated to accelerating the recovery and well-being of brain injury patients. The company is committed to proving the neuroprotective benefits of enhancing astrocyte function, and advancing breakthrough therapeutic agents for treating brain injury resulting from stroke, TBI, concussion, and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Research support referred to in this press release will be supported by the National Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R44NS093756. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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