Platform therapeutic company Symic Biomedical, Inc. ("Symic") announced today that it has received a $1.5M Phase II SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to further develop its therapeutic agent to reduce arteriovenous fistula (AVF) failures, a significant unmet clinical need in end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients undergoing hemodialysis. The two-year project, funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), will allow Symic to perform additional preclinical efficacy studies and advance lead candidate SBCV-030 towards clinical development. Symic will work in collaboration with Prabir Roy-Chaudhury, M.D., Ph.D., Division Director of Nephrology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and Banner University Medical Center, Tucson and member of the Board of Advisors of the American Society of Nephrology.
SBCV-030 represents a new class of therapeutics intended to target the extracellular matrix (ECM). Symic's therapeutics mimic proteoglycans, native macromolecules that play important structural and functional rolls in the ECM. SBCV-030, which is modeled after the proteoglycan decorin, binds to collagen that is exposed when the vascular endothelium is denuded, an unavoidable consequence during any vascular intervention or surgery. When bound, SBCV-030 locally prevents platelet binding to the exposed collagen and the subsequent platelet activation, which can lead to thrombus formation acutely and neointimal hyperplasia chronically.
"In the past three decades, there have been no major advances in the field of hemodialysis vascular access, resulting in a huge unmet clinical need," said Dr. Roy-Chaudhury. "Symic's therapeutic has the potential to address the underlying cause of both AV fistula and AV graft stenosis, without requiring changes in the process of how these procedures are performed. If successful, Symic's innovative and pioneering approach to prevent vascular access stenosis could not only improve the quality of life and survival of ESRD patients, but also and reduce costs to the healthcare system."
"This grant will allow us to advance preclinical development of our AVF therapeutic candidate, which is designed to address the damage to the vessels that occurs during the creation of the AVF and ultimately improve patient outcomes," stated Ken Horne, Chief Executive Officer of Symic. "We look forward to further exploring the potential of our proteoglycan mimetic compounds in this indication, and leveraging our unique understanding of the extracellular matrix to address serious unmet medical needs."
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