GlycoBac, a University of Wyoming spin-out business, receives a Small Business Innovation Research grant.
GlycoBac, a University of Wyoming spin-out, has been given a six-month, $150,000 grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for research to improve the effectiveness of already developed glycoprotein drugs. The Small Business Innovation Research grant is a US government program which awards federal research grants to small businesses.
The company was launched in 2011 by student Christoph Geisler and Molecular Biology professor Don Jarvis to commercialise certain aspects of Dr. Jarvis’ research, after winning $12,500 in the university’s John P. Ellbogen competition. It then received a $1m-plus grant from NIH in April 2012 to be used over a two-year period, split with ParaTechs, which developed technology designed to increase production levels.
The company is currently developing a process to increase the efficiency of small protein drugs, which could help long-term diabetes and cancer patients that have problems producing EPO, the glycoprotein hormone that controls red blood cell production.
Christoph Geisler, Glycobac’s chief research scientist, explained: “This Phase I [funding] will allow us to see whether some kinks need to be worked out.”
GlycoBac plans to apply for an NIH Phase II grant – worth upwards of $1 million – to continue the research, if their current approach proves successful.
