INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Scioto Biosciences, a preclinical stage company developing innovative therapies to transform the delivery of microbiome therapeutics, today announced that they are a recipient of a Phase II SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for $2.3 million. The Phase II award is to continue to support the research with Scioto’s collaborator, the Abigail Wexner Research Institute (AWRI) at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. The funding will be used to develop Scioto’s proprietary therapeutic SB-121, which is a unique formulation used to deliver healthy, activated probiotic or beneficial bacteria to the gastrointestinal tract. Scioto’s strategy of delivering healthy bacteria to the GI tract can be used to treat a number of different disorders ranging from infectious diseases to disorders effecting the gut-brain axis, such as autism and depression.
“The NIH has been a wonderful partner in launching this platform. We are grateful for their support and are pleased to continue to work with them as we move this novel therapeutic into the clinic,” said Joe Trebley, Scioto CEO and co-Principal Investigator (PI) on the grant.
The grant will start in August 2019 and last for two years. The funding is provided through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). Scioto co-founders Drs. Gail Besner, Steve Goodman and Michael Bailey will all serve as co-PIs on a grant subaward to the AWRI.
“This funding will be used to support important pre-clinical experiments prior to treating necrotizing enterocolitis in pre-term infants. The work here will be critical to inform upcoming clinical work to help combat these deadly GI disorders as well as other diseases,” said Dr. Besner, Chief of Pediatric Surgery at Nationwide Children’s.
About Scioto Biosciences
Based in Indianapolis, Scioto Biosciences is a preclinical stage company developing innovative therapies devoted to having a transformative impact on the delivery of live bacterial therapeutics (LBTs). Scioto was founded in 2017 as a partnership between Indiana business accelerator, Monon Bioventures (MBV) and AWRI with whom the company has a worldwide exclusive licensing agreement. The Scioto Activated Bacterial Therapeutic Platform has the potential to enhance efficacy wherever LBTs are used such as gastrointestinal health, diabetes, neurological disorders, alternatives to in-feed antibiotics (in livestock) and others. For more information, visit http://sciotobiosciences.com/.
About the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital
Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report’s 2019-20 list of “Best Children’s Hospitals,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of America’s largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric health care systems providing wellness, preventive, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitative care for infants, children and adolescents, as well as adult patients with congenital disease. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s faculty train the next generation of pediatricians, scientists and pediatric specialists. The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded free-standing pediatric research facilities in the U.S., supporting basic, clinical, translational and behavioral health research. The AWRI houses a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facility for producing gene-and cell-based therapies; one of the largest biorepositories in North America; and comprehensive genome sequencing and analysis capabilities. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org/Research. AWRI helped to found Scioto Biosciences in 2017 and both AWRI and the founders have a financial interest in the success of this technology.
