Icagen, Inc. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: NIAID

Description

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Caldera aims to develop an inexpensive stable selective decorporation decorp agent for cesium Cs Cs is easily obtainable by terrorists and treatments for exposures are Project Bioshield priorities for use in radiation nuclear emergencies high priority for DHHS NIH NIAID DAIT and a critical need for the Strategic National Stockpile SNS Calderaandapos s agent will select for Cs over potassium K sodium Na and other elements that are essential for human health Current treatments are non selective and must be used under strict clinical supervision Selectivity is needed because Na and K are more prevalent than Cs in the body non selective decorp agents are swamped by Na and K Na K and Cs have similar properties so selective treatments are traditionally very difficult to develop Agents such as Prussian Blue PB are current treatments for Cs exposure however PB only binds Cs from the gastrointestinal tract GI DTPA analogs have been approved by the FDA for treatment of plutonium americium and curium but they are in intravenous forms so are difficult to administer in response to mass exposure Calderaandapos s approach focuses on chelating radioactive Cs in blood and muscle that has been absorbed systemically from all exposure routes oral dermal inhaled There are no decorp agents to selectively remove Cs from the bloodstream and musculature Caldera will use XRpro r a high throughput screening HTS label free x ray fluorescence XRF technology to produce selective decorp agents for Cs and other radioisotopes XRpro r protocols instruments microarrays and novel ligands increase the signal and decrease the noise for measuring Cs increasing the likelihood that Phase I will result in novel selective Cs decorp agents PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE Caldera aims to develop an inexpensive stable selective decorporation decorp agent for cesium Cs Cs is easily obtainable by terrorists and treatments for exposures are Project Bioshield priorities for use in radiation nuclear emergencies high priority for DHHS NIH NIAID DAIT and a critical need for the Strategic National Stockpile SNS Calderaandapos s agent will select for Cs over potassium K sod ium Na and other elements that are essential for human health Current treatments are non selective and must be used under strict clinical supervision