Sparian Biosciences Awarded $19.5 Million Five-Year NIH/ NIDA Grant to Fund Development of SBS-226 for Opiate Use Disorder/ Opiate Withdrawal Syndrome Through Phase 1 Clinical Development
Summary
Unlike the current medications on the market for OUD, SBS-226 does not precipitate withdrawal in animals that have been chronically exposed to highly potent opioids.While Sparian was founded to develop innovative therapeutics to treat neurologic and neuropsychiatric conditions, we quickly focused our efforts in the areas of pain and substance use disorders, said Jeff Reich, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder. We think SBS-226 has a chance to replace the current standard of care as a more effective and safer option particularly as it avoids the problem of precipitated withdrawal.The $19.5 million dollars in funding represents the third NIH/NIDA grant Sparian has received. SBS-518 is a first-in-class dual sigma receptor (SR) antagonist/dopamine transporter (DAT) inhibitor in development for the treatment of stimulant use disorder (StUD).We are extremely proud of the ongoing support we have received from NIDA, said Dr. Reich. Sparian, along with our academic partners, is honored to be a trusted collaborator.SBS-226 is being developed in collaboration with Susruta Majumdar, PhD from Washington University, National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.OUD represents a serious public health crisis in the U.S. with a growing prevalence of over 4 million and approximately 75,000 opiate related overdose annual deaths reported in 2023. A new drug with a novel mechanism of action has a chance to transcend the stigma of the current standard of care, transform the treatment paradigm and pave the way to finally curbing this substance use epidemic.