Bio-Path Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: BPTH) ("Bio-Path"), a biotechnology company developing a liposomal delivery technology for nucleic acid cancer drugs, today announced that it has received a grant of $244,479 from the United States Government to help fund the Company's Phase I clinical trial of its lead cancer drug candidate Liposomal Grb-2. The amount of funds awarded was the maximum allocation allowed under the program.
Bio-Path is developing a neutral lipid-based liposome delivery technology for nucleic acid cancer drugs (including antisense and RNAi molecules), a delivery technology that forms microscopic-sized vehicles to deliver these drugs safely to their intended target cancer cells. The Company's lead product candidate, Liposomal Grb-2, is currently in a Phase I clinical trial for blood cancers including acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).
The grant will be made through the U.S. Government's Qualifying Therapeutic Discover Project Program, established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Internal Revenue Service in consultation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services qualified investments attributable to the program. Bio-Path expects to receive the funds from the grant by the end of the year 2010.
Peter Nielsen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bio-Path, commented, "We are very pleased to receive grant funding to support the on-going Liposomal Grb-2 clinical trial. This trial is an important step in providing clinical evidence that Bio-Path's neutral lipid delivery technology will deliver antisense and RNAi substances safely and with high uptake to cancer cells, the missing link in making antisense and RNAi therapeutics a reality. The grant program was very competitive and being selected is a strong validation of the Company's technology."