Embera EMB-001 gets $3.9m NIDA development grant

The grant is expected to support the next stages of development for Embera’s drug candidate EMB-001 to treat cocaine dependence, as well as advance EMB-001 into clinical testing.

Work done under this grant is also expected to support Embera’s clinical development program for EMB-001 for smoking cessation.

EMB-001 is a new addiction treatment based on discoveries by Nicholas Goeders, professor and head of the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology & Neuroscience at LSUHSC-S, and licensed exclusively to Embera by LSU.

In addition to Goeders’ research in cocaine and methamphetamine dependence, Embera has conducted studies in a preclinical model of nicotine dependence, confirming the potential for EMB-001 as a smoking cessation treatment and showing significant performance versus the positive control (varenicline).

Embera CEO Bob Linke said that they were delighted to receive positive scientific validation and support from NIDA for Goeders’ discoveries and Embera’s subsequent development work.

“We are excited to continue our work with Goeders to advance the development of EMB-001 to treat cocaine dependence and enable clinical development of EMB-001 for smoking cessation,” Linke said.

EMB-001 is a combination drug that acts by mechanisms distinct from those of existing addiction treatments, and comprises two FDA-approved medications, the benzodiazepine oxazepam and the cortisol synthesis inhibitor metyrapone.

Embera claimed that through the modulation of stress-related pathways, EMB-001 targets the drivers of addictive behavior.

Clinical activity using EMB-001 has been shown in a pilot study in cocaine-dependent human subjects and additionally efficacy in cocaine, nicotine and methamphetamine dependence has been demonstrated in preclinical studies.