NIH awards Novelos and MGH $1M grant for the study of compounds for radiation-induced lung injury

Sep 29 2009

Novelos Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCBB: NVLT), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapeutics to treat cancer and hepatitis, today announced that the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), in collaboration with Novelos, was awarded a $950,371 competitive grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study two Novelos compounds – NOV-002 and NOV-205 – for the mitigation and treatment of radiation-induced pulmonary injury. This 17-month grant will fund the assessment of both drug candidates in animal models designed to reflect pulmonary injury resulting from, for example, a terrorist incident involving a radiation-dispersal device (“dirty bomb”) or nuclear device or in a radiation accident such as at Chernobyl.

Dr. Kathryn D. Held is the Principal Investigator of the grant. Dr. Held is Associate Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and Radiation Biologist and Associate Radiation Biologist, Department of Radiation Oncology at MGH. Co-PIs at MGH/Harvard include Drs. Mark C. Poznansky, Assistant Professor in the AIDS Research Center, and Leo E. Gerweck, Associate Professor in Radiation Oncology.

“Radiation injury studies have indicated that among organs whose ablation leads to death, lung is the second most sensitive organ system after the hematopoietic system,” said Dr. Held. “We want to determine whether certain compounds have a beneficial effect on radiation-induced lung damage.”

“Novelos is pleased to be collaborating with Dr. Held and her MGH/Harvard colleagues to study NOV-002 and NOV-205 under this NIH grant,” said Christopher Pazoles, Ph.D., Vice President of Research & Development of Novelos, who will be part of the team of scientists executing the studies under the grant. “The ability of our compounds to modulate the redox status of cells may offer a novel therapeutic modality for radiation injury.”

The stated goal of this NIH challenge grant (RC1) program is “to accelerate the development of safe and effective medical products to mitigate or to treat pulmonary injury arising from intentional or accidental exposure to ionizing radiation. Specifically, this new initiative will support research and development of the most promising new approaches and medical products to mitigate and/or treat radiation-induced pulmonary injury.” For more information visit: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-AI-07-040.html