BIOAXONE BIOSCIENCES, INC. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: 102

Description

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant BA is an investigational drug that targets Rho an intracellular GTPase important for controlling axon regeneration and repair after spinal cord injury BA has completed a Phase I IIa clinical trial for treatment of acute spinal cord injury in patients Not only was BA safe and well tolerated but patients with cervical SCI showed very promising recovery of arm and hand movements While current development is to treat acute spinal cord injury BA has potential to improve outcome in patients with chronic SCI especially if used in combination with other therapies One barrier to treating chronic SCI is the glial scar that develops and remains after SCI Several drugs currently on the market have the potential to digest the glial scar and could be repurposed for SCI Combining BA with a repurposed drug will accelerate the regulatory path to clinical trials and approval The overall goal of this SBIR project is to investigate the use of BA in combination with one of two drugs that digest the glial scar as a treatment for chronic SCI PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE There are million Americans living with paralysis from spinal cord injury SCI and every year more become permanently paralyzed BA is a Rho antagonist in clinical development to treat acute SCI for chronic SCI combination therapies that digest the glial scar and promote regeneration provide the best strategy to improve recovery We propose to carry out proof of concept studies to test the efficacy of BA in combination with drugs that digest the glial scar for the treatment of chronic spinal cord injury