DALLAS, March 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CerSci Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical development company based in Dallas, Texas, today announced it has been awarded a Phase I SBIR grant of $225,000 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue its development of novel non-opioid drug candidates for the treatment of chronic neuropathic pain.
CerSci Therapeutics, founded in early 2015, is focused on developing next-generation non-opioid pain therapeutics for the treatment and prevention of acute and chronic pain. This grant will enable CerSci to further develop their patented and patent-pending pipeline of adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase (AMPK) activators and peroxynitrite (PN) scavengers. CerSci’s development of non-opioid pain therapeutics addresses the critical need of finding solutions to the opioid epidemic in the U.S. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, the United States is in the midst of an opioid overdose epidemic; opioids killed more than 33,000 Americans (90 people per day) in 2015, with half of all opioid overdose deaths involving a prescription opioid.
“Healthcare expenditures associated with chronic pain account for over $600 billion annually, more than the yearly cost of cancer, and heart disease combined. However, treatments available for these patients are very limited,” remarked Dr. Lucas Rodriguez, Co-Founder and President of CerSci Therapeutics. “Alarmingly, 1 in 4 patients who treat chronic pain with opioids struggle with addiction. At CerSci, we believe that developing drugs, which avoid interaction with opioid receptors altogether, will aid in the relief of the opioid epidemic while providing caregivers drugs, which will truly help alleviate their patients’ pain. We are incredibly energized to receive this validation from our peers at the NIH.”
CerSci Therapeutics is currently fundraising to support the Investigational New Drug Application for their lead molecular asset to the Food and Drug Administration.
Media Contact:
Lucas Rodriguez
+1 (956) 279-6888
www.cersci.com
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SOURCE CerSci Therapeutics
