Funding awarded to scientists at Camino Pharma, Sanford Burnham Prebys, and UC San Diego will expand the nonclinical studies to support a phase 2 clinical evaluation of SBP-9330.
Scientists at Camino Pharma, LLC, Sanford Burnham Prebys, and University of California San Diego School of Medicine received a $9-million, three-year grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund longer toxicology studies and drug manufacturing of SBP-9330 to support planned phase 2 studies for nicotine cessation.
SBP-9330, a small molecule that was discovered by Nicholas Cosford, PhD, and his team at Sanford Burnham Prebys, targets a receptor called metabotropic glutamate receptor 2 (mGlu2), leading to reduced levels of glutamate—a neurotransmitter linked to nicotine addiction and relapse behavior. SBP-9330 works through a mechanism distinct from the currently available drugs and would be a first-in-class medication to help people quit smoking.
The phase 1 clinical testing of SBP-9330 was recently completed under a previous $11.4-million, three-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.
Under the terms of the current grant, investigators at Camino Pharma will oversee the longer-term toxicology studies, Sanford Burnham Prebys will oversee drug manufacturing and formulation, and UC San Diego School of Medicine will provide guidance for the design of the phase 2 clinical program.
“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,” says co-principal investigator Gonul Velicelebi, PhD, CEO and co-founder of Camino Pharma in a release. “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.”
More than one billion people worldwide smoke tobacco, and the advent of electronic cigarettes has caused a sharp increase in young adults who use nicotine—the addictive component of tobacco. Cigarette smoking accounts for approximately 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 US, and more than half of people die within a year of being diagnosed.
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