The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a $1.84m grant to Diamyd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Diamyd Medical, to support the development of Nerve Targeting Drug Delivery System (NTDDS) for Diabetic Neuropathic Pain.
The company said that the two-year grant largely funds the advancement of NTDDS with Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase (GAD) through preclinical efficacy, toxicology and biodistribution studies, manufacturing and filing of an Investigational New Drug (IND)application with the FDA.
Reportedly, the grant is awarded to David Fink, professor and chairman of the department of neurology at the University of Michigan, a long-term collaborator doing research with Diamyd’s NTDDS technology.
David Fink, professor and chairman of the department of neurology at the University of Michigan, said: “NTDDS GAD has proven particularly useful in the treatment of neuropathic pain. This grant will allow us to take next critical step in translating our preclinical findings into human therapy. With the platform safety of NTDDS established in our Phase I trial with Enkephalin, we anticipate the path to clinical trials with GAD to be relatively smooth.”
Elisabeth Lindner, CEO of Diamyd Medica. “With the NTDDS technology, pain killers are delivered to those neurons transmitting pain. This unique targeted delivery of drugs can be done with almost any product. This grant therefore represents an important further step in recognition of our pain platform.”