DiscoveryBioMed, Inc. (DBM) today announced that it has been awarded a $750,000 Small Business Innovations Research (SBIR) Phase 2 grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue the research into the discovery and development of small molecules to alleviate multiple chronic human diseases including cystic fibrosis (CF), hypertension and chronic kidney diseases with hypertension.
“We are proud to have been awarded this grant and to have our technology again recognized and validated by the NIH,” said Dr. Erik Schwiebert, Chief Executive Officer of DiscoveryBioMed. “With our academic partners at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, we stand ready to test lead compounds for safety and efficacy in both CF and hypertensive animal models.”
DBM has adapted a known electrical bioassay method to be high-throughput screening friendly, a necessary solution to bring the bioassay to the molecular target endogenous to the apical cell membrane of polarized renal and respiratory epithelia. The molecular target in play for this drug discovery program is an epithelial ion channel that is the rate-limiting step for the handling of salt in the distal portions of the kidney and in the respiratory tract. When over-active, this sodium channel can cause dehydration of the airways and too much salt in the blood, leading to high blood pressure.