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Cureveda Awarded Two NIH Small Business Grants to Develop Treatments for Systemic Sclerosis and COPDCureveda LLC, a company focused on the development of therapeutics to treat inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, announced today that it has been awarded two Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants totaling $450,000 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These grants will support preclinical studies to test the efficacy of VEDA-1209 as a novel treatment for systemic sclerosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Current treatments for both these diseases focus primarily on symptom relief but do not target the underlying disease processes. VEDA-1209 activates Nrf2, the master regulator of anti-oxidant pathways in the cell, resulting in inhibition of the fibrotic and inflammatory processes that drive systemic sclerosis and COPD, respectively. Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease with a chronic course, involving the overproduction of collagen leading to fibrosis of the skin and connective tisses. With a prevalence of ~100,000 in the US, more than 50% of patients with the aggressive form of scleroderma die or develop organ failure within five years. The Systemic Sclerosis STTR was awarded by the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Cureveda will collaborate with Drs. John Varga and Jun Wei of Northwestern University, leaders in Systemic Sclerosis treatment and research, to test the efficacy of VEDA-1209 in cells from patients and in animal models of this disease. COPD affects 13 million people in the US and is the third-leading cause of mortality. The COPD STTR grant, awarded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, involves a collaboration with a team of scientists and physicians at Johns Hopkins University. In this project, VEDA-1209 will be tested for efficacy in vitro using cells taken from the lungs of COPD patients, and in vivo in an animal model of COPD. "Systemic sclerosis and COPD are devastating diseases where there is a critical need for more effective treatments," said Graham Allaway, PhD, Cureveda's CEO. These two STTR projects will help us advance VEDA-1209 as a powerful new therapeutic approach for these conditions." About Cureveda Cureveda is a privately held company developing Nrf2 activators for the treatment of COPD, systemic sclerosis, pulmonary fibrosis, multiple sclerosis and other diseases. For further information, please visit www.cureveda.com.
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