The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a Phase II SBIR grant to Inhibikase Therapeutics, Inc. to advance its novel Re-engineering with Metabolism Preserved (RAMP) medicinal chemistry program.
RAMP is a method of re-engineering small molecule protein kinase inhibitors to enhance their potency as much as 40-fold without altering how the drugs are broken down in the body.
RAMP offers the opportunity to preserve favorable side-effect profiles of kinase inhibitors that may already be marketed, but that lack sufficient potency to be broadly effective. By preserving the route of metabolism, and then enhancing the intrinsic potency of the drug, two positive safety benefits are realized: no new side effects and lower drug doses to reach the same therapeutic outcome.
By going to lower doses, the opportunity exists to not only preserve the existing safety profile of a drug, but to further improve it since less drug will have to be given at each dose.
The NIH grant is valued at $1.54 million dollars.
Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Inhibikase Therapeutics is developing treatments for orphan indications arising from polyomaviruses, such as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), BK-virus associated nephropathy (PVAN), fungal and bacterial pneumonias as well as medical countermeasures for biodefense.
