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Kineta Awarded NIH Grant to Complete Preclinical Studies on Type 1 Diabetes / Multiple Sclerosis Drug Candidate

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) March 29, 2010 -- Kineta, Inc. announced today receipt of a Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Awarded under the NIAID’s expanded Phase 1 program, the $600,000, two-year grant will help finance IND-enabling studies of ShK-186, Kineta’s first-in-class therapeutic for type 1 diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases. The award includes a subcontract to George Chandy, M.D., Ph.D. of the University of California at Irvine for mechanistic studies. Kineta intends to begin human clinical trials on the investigational drug in the second half of 2010.

“This SBIR award is great validation of the importance and novelty of Kineta’s autoimmune program. The funding adds to Kineta’s financial horsepower as we conclude preclinical studies and move into man later this year,” said Charles L. Magness, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Kineta, Inc.
"It is very gratifying to see the high level support for ShK-186, and to witness its steady momentum through the development pipeline," added Dr. Chandy.

ShK-186 is a potent and highly specific Kv1.3 potassium channel blocker. It is designed to suppress activation of effector memory T cells, which are important mediators of inflammation and tissue damage in MS, type 1 diabetes mellitus and other autoimmune diseases. The drug candidate has been shown to significantly reverse disease in animal models of MS and rheumatoid arthritis. Animal models also have demonstrated that efficacy is achieved without the generalized immunosuppression that occurs with competing therapies. The synthetically manufactured compound was originally isolated from the Caribbean sea anemone, Stichodactyla helianthus, and subsequently optimized by Dr. Chandy’s laboratory.

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Dxed Jan 2006. Sx since 2002. Rebif since March 2006. "When one door closes, another opens but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." Alexander Graham Bell