Grafton company receives $2.9 million from DoD for brain injury treatment study
Grafton-based Ischemix, Inc. was awarded a $2.9 million award by the Department of Defense to fund a Phase 1 study of CMX-2043, a novel compound for the treatment of acute TBI.
Ischemix is a private company focused on developing therapeutics for serious medical conditions, primarily traumatic brain injury (TBI), a condition for which there are currently no approved pharmaceutical therapies available.
“We have assembled a highly experienced team of partners in drug manufacturing and formulation and in clinical trial management to work with us on this Phase 1 trial,” said David DeWahl, President and CEO of the Company. “We are excited to commence this important phase of the development of our proprietary drug candidate to treat TBI.”
The award will pay for a substantial portion of the costs manufacturing and formulating additional supply of the drug candidate as well as the costs of performing the trial. The Department of Defense previously awarded $1.9 million to Ischemix to fund preclinical research on CMX-2043 for TBI.
CMX-2043, a multi-modal cytoprotective compound based on a naturally-occurring molecule present in the human body, has previously demonstrated safety and efficacy in preclinical models of TBI. The successful preclinical efficacy results were achieved in measures of recognized blood biomarkers, MRI analysis and behavior.
“We are pleased to have received this second award from DoD/MTEC for the development of our novel compound for treating TBI,” said Geoffrey E. Clark, Chairman and Chief Medical Officer of Ischemix. “This compound aims to improve the health outcomes of TBI patients in military and civilian populations, thereby increasing patients’ quality of life and reducing the economic and social costs to society.”
The Center for Disease Control reports that in the US in 2014, there were about 2.9 million TBI-related emergency department visits. It is estimated that each year TBI is responsible for 60,000 deaths and causes 80,000 individuals to have permanent disabilities. The annual direct and indirect cost of TBI in the US is approximately $77 billion.
The US DoD reported 434,681 TBIs among its worldwide service members in the period 2000 – 2020 and 16,198 TBIs in 2020.
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