NIH awards PLx Pharma multiple grants for development of GI safer NSAIDs

May 12 2010

PLx Pharma, a pharmaceutical company developing safer formulations of proven non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), today announced that it has been awarded multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling approximately $2,000,000. This funding has been awarded to support further advancement of a range of products currently under development by PLx.

Lenard M. Lichtenberger, Ph.D., PLx Pharma's Chief Science Officer and co-founder, and Professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, said, "We appreciate the continuing support of the NIH in the development of GI safer NSAIDs, which has proven beneficial in the validation of our approach. I am excited that our breakthrough technology is now in human trials and demonstrating clinically significant enhanced GI safety as evidenced by our recently announced PL2200 Aspirin clinical results."

In recent months, the NIH has awarded the following grants to PLx Pharma:

• The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) awarded PLx $798,642 to support development of PL3100 Naproxen as a treatment for arthritis and chronic pain.
• The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development awarded PLx $157,934 to support development of PL4500 Indomethacin IV for use in preterm neonates for use in the treatment of patent ductus arteriosus while reducing the risk of developing necrotizing enterocolitis, a devastating digestive disease afflicting low birth weight newborns.
• The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases awarded $992,972 to Dr. Lichtenberger and colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science Center to evaluate the mechanism of action of multiple PLx products in development and awarded PLx $37,500 as a supplement for continuation of an existing grant.

SOURCE PLx Pharma