Fort Worth-based AyuVis announced on Thursday that it was awarded a third grant from the U.S. federal government, this one $1.8 million through the National Institute of Health’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
The grant increases AyuVis’ total funding through the NIH/Small Business Innovation Research program to $2.1 million, according to a news release. The National Institute of Child Development is one of the institutes of the NIH in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The grant will fund the continuation of AyuVis’ development of new immunotherapies to treat inflammation and infection. It advances preclinical research for AyuVis’ first target indication, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, which will enable Phase 2 clinical trials. BPD is the second leading cause of death in premature babies, induced by supplemental oxygen administered in the NICU that is needed for survival, but also leads to lung inflammation and tissue damage.
“HSC is excited about this achievement for AyuVis,” says Robert McClain, associate vice president of research and innovation at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth. “The SBIR program is a powerful catalyst for innovation but underutilized in Tarrant County. AyuVis is an outstanding example to other startups in the region of how to leverage this non-dilutive funding source.”
Suchismita Acharya, a pharmaceutical scientist with more than 15 years of experience in drug discovery and development, including with Alcon Labs and Novartis, is the company’s founder and CEO.
Acharya began the drug discovery process for AyuVis’ pipeline of immunotherapies, she had three properties in mind for ideal drug candidates, seeking an end product that was easy to manufacture, easy to formulate, and safe, with no toxicity, all of which were confirmed in preclinical studies.
AyuVis has completed all the necessary preclinical studies to prepare an investigational new drug application for its lead drug candidate, AVR-48.
“This is a very exciting time for AyuVis. Getting a Direct to Phase-II SBIR grant from the NICHD speaks volumes of our excellent team, sound science and well-thought-out commercialization strategy,” Acharya says in a statement.
“This grant funding will enable us to complete the last portion of nonclinical, large animal pharmacological studies and push the lead compound, AVR-48, to the clinic faster. Additionally, this grant opens opportunities for subsequent follow-up, nondilutive funding from the NIH and other agencies. The timing is perfect.”
Nondilutive funding is the term used to describe outside funding that doesn’t require the company to give away any ownership or equity in the company.
AyuVis selected BPD as its first target because it is an area of high unmet medical need with no FDA-approved therapies for prevention or treatment. BPD has a 9% mortality rate and those who do survive often require ongoing care. AyuVis’ first goal is to save and improve the lives of these babies by preventing BPD in at-risk preterm infants with its unique, first-in-class immunotherapy.
AyuVis is a member company of TechFW, a nonprofit technology business incubator and accelerator in Fort Worth; a portfolio company of the Cowtown Angels, an angel investor network affiliated with TechFW; and a partner with the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth in its HSC Next Innovation Labs incubator program.