SomaGenics awarded NIH funding for diabetic foot ulcer therapy
/Santa Cruz, CA, November 2019 — SomaGenics, Inc. announced the receipt of a Phase I SBIR grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to develop its novel sshRNA®-based combination therapy to treat diabetic foot ulcers.
Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are one of the most devastating complications of diabetes, occurring in nearly 25% of patients. The costs related to DFUs to both patients and the healthcare system are enormous and there is a pressing need for novel therapeutic strategies to better manage DFU patients.
SomaGenics’ NIH-funded research seeks to accelerate wound healing in diabetic patients by restoring the normal wound-healing response which is impaired in these patients. “We are encouraged by our results to date; we have been able to show a therapeutically significant increase in rate of wound closure in a diabetic mouse model,” stated Brian Johnston, Ph.D., CEO of SomaGenics, Inc.
The new NIH grant funding allows SomaGenics to complete in vivo testing in a second animal model (rabbit) to support the Company’s IND application to the FDA.
Somagenics website: www.somagenics.com
Contact: Anne Scholz, 831 426 7700 ext. 17