OLIGOMERIX Awarded NIH Grant to Develop Novel Drug Discovery Technology for Alzheimer's Disease.NEW YORK -- OLIGOMERIX, Inc. today announced the receipt of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR SBIR Small Business Innovation Research (program/grant) SBIR Space Based Infra-Red SBIR Speaker-Boundary Interference SBIR Site Backsurface-referenced Ideal Plane/Range (silicon wafers) ) Phase I grant for $233,598 from the National Institute on Aging The National Institute on Aging is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, Maryland. Formed in 1974, NIA's mission is to improve the health and well-being of older Americans through research. It is the primary U.S. , National Institutes of Health (NIH "Not invented here." See digispeak. NIH - The United States National Institutes of Health. ), to develop high throughput technology for drug discovery for Alzheimer's disease. This technology targets Tau OLIGOMERS, small soluble aggregates of tau protein that contribute to the pathology of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Antibodies against Tau OLIGOMERS developed in this program will be used to select compounds inhibiting the accumulation of Tau OLIGOMERS for drug development and as biomarkers for drug efficacy during disease progression. The antibodies are being developed in collaboration with Dr. Michael Sierks (Arizona State University Arizona State University, at Tempe; coeducational; opened 1886 as a normal school, became 1925 Tempe State Teachers College, renamed 1945 Arizona State College at Tempe. Its present name was adopted in 1958. ). There is a large and rapidly growing unmet need for disease modifying drugs for Alzheimer's disease. There are 18 million cases of AD worldwide; by 2025 this number is expected to increase to 34 million. Direct costs in US for AD exceeded $150 billion in 2005. Presently, only 5 mildly effective AD symptom-treating drugs exist but none that treat the underlying neurodegenerative processes. James Moe, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of OLIGOMERIX, Inc., stated, "Our proprietary Tau OLIGOMER oligomer /ol·i·go·mer/ (ol´i-go-mer) a polymer formed by the combination of relatively few monomers. oligomer ( target is being used to discover novel disease-modifying drugs that can halt or reverse the inexorable loss of neurons that is a hallmark of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases." ABOUT OLIGOMERIX OLIGOMERIX, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company founded in 2006 located within the Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park at Columbia University Medical Center Columbia University Medical Center is the name of the medical complex associated with Columbia University, and covers several blocks (primarily between 165th and 168th Streets from the Henry Hudson Parkway to Audubon Avenue) in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. . The Company is exploiting its novel research that allows rapid generation of stable amyloid amyloid /am·y·loid/ (am´i-loid) 1. starchlike; amylaceous. 2. the pathologic, extracellular, waxy, amorphous substance deposited in amyloidosis, being composed of fibrils in bundles or in a meshwork of polypeptide OLIGOMERS as targets for drug discovery. These systems will enable target identification, drug discovery, and validation for AD, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases. For more information visit www.oligomerix.com. Certain matters described in this news release may be forward-looking statements subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk of dependence on market growth, competition and dependence on government agencies and other third parties for funding contract research and services. |
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