Biotech Firm Receives Federal Research Grants
Transposagen’s Research To Solve Pharmaceutical Industry Problems
Lexington, Kentucky, January 1, 2008 – Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. based in Lexington, KY, has announced that it is the recipient of a $1.4 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The company will use this grant to further its research into the efficient production of genetically modified knockout animal models for drug discovery and development. This award follows the $100,000 SBIR Phase I grant the company received in 2005. Transposagen was also awarded an additional $1 million SBIR Phase II match from the Kentucky Department of Commercialization and Innovation.
“Receiving the NIH awards further validates the breakthrough technology being developed by Transposagen,” said Dr. Eric Ostertag, CEO of Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. “We use the only commercially viable technology to create knockout rats, which are animals with single genes disrupted, causing the animals to closely mimic various human diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and cancer. We call these animals MutaRatTM Knockout Rat Models, and they are crucial tools for drug discovery and development. The company’s ultimate goal is to produce a MutaRatTM Knockout Rat Model representing every gene in the rat genome within 5 years.”
The NIH performs extensive external peer review using experts from academia and industry to assess the scientific merit, technical merit, and commercial application of the proposed technology. In 2007, NIH celebrated the 25th anniversary of the SBIR program and the 15th anniversary of the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. Since the inception of these programs, the NIH has invested more than $5 billion in more than 19,000 projects to over 5,000 small businesses.
Transposagen is using its technology to help the pharmaceutical industry solve two very pressing drug development problems. First, the company has developed the MutaRatTM Drug Target Discovery System and MutaRatTM Tissue Bank which will help pharmaceutical companies replenish their drug discovery pipelines. “Today, the top 100 best-selling drugs in the United States address only 43 gene targets,” said Dr. Ostertag. “Recent analyses suggest that there are many additional drug targets represented in the human genome and our MutaRatTM Drug Target Discovery System is a powerful tool to aid in their discovery.”
Second, Transposagen is now producing MutaRatTM Knockout Rat Models that can be used for testing potential therapeutics. Dr. Ostertag went on to say, “Most potential therapeutics, nearly 90%, fail in human clinical trials after an average investment of $400 million dollars. This indicates that more reliable animal models are needed to predict the success or failure of compounds at an earlier pre-clinical stage of drug development. Knockout rats can predict the efficacy and toxicity of a potential therapeutic better than other animal models. Therefore, the use of our MutaRatTM Knockout Rat Models makes testing of potential therapeutics more accurate in preclinical stages, thereby making the entire drug development process more efficient. This saves millions of dollars in the cost of drug development, which is a savings that is ultimately passed on to the patients who need the new therapeutics.”
About Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals:
Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals is a privately held biotechnology company with operations in Lexington, KY and Philadelphia, PA. The company is dedicated to providing unique animal models of human diseases for drug discovery and development. The production of animal models is a $1.2 billion/year market and is expected to grow 12% annually through 2010. For more information, visit www.transposagenbio.com.
About the NIH:
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
Contact:
George Ward
201 W. Second St.
Lexington, KY 40507
gward@transposagenbio.com
859-428-8561