IN THE NEWS:
NIH Grant Will Support Symic Biomedical’s Development of Therapeutic Agent to Reduce Vascular Access Failures in End-Stage Renal Disease
August 26, 2015 | Endovascular Today
Symic Biomedical, Inc. announced that it has received a $1.5 million phase 2 small-business innovation research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to further develop its therapeutic agent to reduce arteriovenous fistula failures in patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing hemodialysis. The 2-year project, funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, will allow Symic to perform additional preclinical efficacy studies for its lead candidate SBCV-030 and advance it toward clinical development.
Symic Biomedical will work in collaboration with Prabir Roy-Chaudhury, MD, PhD, who is chief of the Division of Nephrology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and Banner – University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz. Dr. Roy-Chaudhury is also a member of the board of advisors of the American Society of Nephrology.
According to the company, SBCV-030 represents a new class of therapeutics intended to target the extracellular matrix (ECM). Symic's therapeutics mimic proteoglycans, native macromolecules that play important structural and functional roles in the ECM. SBCV-030, which is modeled after the proteoglycan decorin, binds to collagen that is exposed when the vascular endothelium is denuded, an unavoidable consequence during any vascular intervention or surgery. When bound, SBCV-030 locally prevents platelet binding to the exposed collagen and the subsequent platelet activation, which can lead to acute thrombus formation and chronic neointimal hyperplasia, explained Symic Biomedical.
In the company’s press release, Dr. Roy-Chaudhury commented, “In the past 3 decades, there have been no major advances in the field of hemodialysis vascular access, resulting in a huge unmet clinical need. Symic’s therapeutic agent has the potential to address the underlying cause of both arteriovenous fistula and arteriovenous graft stenosis, without requiring changes in the process of how these procedures are performed. If successful, Symic’s innovative and pioneering approach to prevent vascular access stenosis could not only improve the quality of life and survival of end-stage renal disease patients, but also reduce costs to the health care system.”