Scientists at San Diego-based Camino Pharma, Sanford Burnham Prebys and UC San Diego School of Medicine have received a $9 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for work on a drug intended to treat nicotine addiction.
The three-year grant from NIDA, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, will fund longer toxicology studies and drug manufacturing of a molecule that targets a specific receptor, reducing levels of glutamate — a neurotransmitter linked to nicotine addiction and relapse behavior, the researchers said. That molecule — SBP-9330 — was discovered by Dr. Nicholas Cosford and his team at Sanford Burnham Prebys.
The first phase of clinical testing was recently completed under a previous $11.4 million, 3-year NIDA grant awarded to the same researchers, documenting “that the drug candidate is safe and well tolerated in healthy smoking and nonsmoking human subjects,” a statement from the NIH read.
“Our Phase 1 study results showed that SBP-9330 has a favorable safety and tolerability profile and well-behaved pharmacokinetics in humans, supporting further clinical development and evaluation of the compound in a proof-of-concept study in smokers as an aid to smoking cessation,” said Gonul Velicelebi, CEO and co-founder of Camino Pharma. “We are grateful to NIDA for their sustained support of the SBP-9330 program from preclinical through the clinical stage, awarding three consecutive U01 grants, totaling $31.2 million and underscoring the vital importance of public funding for addiction treatments.”
Cigarette smoking accounts for around 30% of all cancers, including 80% of lung cancer cases, according to the American Cancer Society. Lung cancer remains the number one cause of cancer deaths in the United States, and more than half of people die within a year of being diagnosed.
Under the terms of the grant, Camino Pharma will oversee the longer-term toxicology studies, Sanford Burnham Prebys will oversee drug manufacturing and formulation, and UCSD School of Medicine will provide guidance for the design of the Phase 2 clinical program, the researchers said.
City News Service contributed to this article.
