Nortis Awarded $688K NIH Phase II SBIR Fast Track Grant To Develop Living Model Of Human Blood-Brain Barrier
SEATTLE, Aug. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Nortis today announced the awarding of a $688K National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant. The award will provide funding for the third year of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)Fast-track grant under award number R44NS095585 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).
The neurotherapeutics sector is among the largest and fastest growing markets in the pharmaceutical industry. Progress has been slow due to the lack of in-vitro assays that reliably predict outcomes in humans. The grant will allow Nortis to expand applications for its proprietary ParVivo system into the field of human blood-brain barrier (BBB), addressing the critically unmet need for more effective in-vitro testing systems that model human brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, stroke and cancer.
"Understanding how drugs are transported across the blood-brain barrier and interact with the brain presents a significant scientific challenge," said Dr. Thomas Neumann, CEO of Nortis and Principal Investigator on this project."More predictive preclinical models based on human tissue are urgently needed to reduce costs and minimize clinical trial failures. This grant will help us develop new in-vitro alternatives to traditional pharmaceutical drug development testing on laboratory animals. "
About Nortis
Nortis is a privately held Organs-on-Chip company that is revolutionizing traditional drug development and discovery processes. The company is a leader in the 70% CAGR Organs-on-Chip market, projected by Research and Markets to reach $1.3B by 2022. Nortis has more than 30 customers using its systems, including biopharma leaders and top academic centers like the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). For more information about Nortis visit www.nortisbio.com.
About ParVivo
The ParVivo system provides organizations with the ability to accurately investigate living 3D models of human organs and accelerate the discovery and introduction of new therapies into the market. The in-vitro alternative to today's laboratory animal testing models accurately replicates the biological structure and function of living human organs with the aim of reducing clinical trial failures. Organ models currently under development by scientists and application developers using ParVivo include applications for kidney, brain, heart, liver, immune system, blood vessels, cancer and personalized medicine.
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