U.S. DOD grant to study vigabatrin in combination with opiates to manage pain

Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners, Inc. (NasdaqCM: CPRX) today reported that a team of neuroscientists at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System (LIJ) has received a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to conduct an animal study of the use of vigabatrin in combination with opiates to effectively manage pain while reducing the potential for opiate addiction. Opioid abuse is one of the many substance addiction indications covered under Catalyst's exclusive license of Brookhaven National Laboratory's vigabatrin patent portfolio. With this in mind, Catalyst has agreed to provide CPP-109, Catalyst's version of vigabatrin, to facilitate the study.

The research team is led by Wynne K. Schiffer, Ph.D. and Stephen L. Dewey, Ph.D. of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and Jonathan D. Brodie, M.D., Ph.D. from the Department of Psychiatry at New York University's School of Medicine. Drs. Dewey and Brodie are the co-inventors on the vigabatrin-related patents that Catalyst has licensed from Brookhaven and are members of Catalyst's Scientific Advisory Board. Drs. Schiffer and Dewey have recently moved from Brookhaven to The Feinstein Institute.

The impetus for the DOD grant is the problem of pain on the heels of war-related injury. Under-treatment of pain is a serious problem in the Armed Forces and the U.S. Veteran population. Drugs such as morphine and other opiates provide the best pain relief; however, due to the concern of potential addiction, these drugs are often administered at very low doses which frequently under-treat pain. In 2006, more than 354,000 veterans received care in the U.S. Veterans Health Administration hospital programs for substance abuse disorders, including the development of opiate dependence used for the treatment of chronic pain. The goal of the grant is to begin to develop a treatment strategy that seeks to eliminate the addictive liability of morphine while maintaining its ability to manage pain.