WAYLAND, Mass., March 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Avaxia Biologics,
Inc., a privately-held biotech company using its proprietary
platform technology to develop orally-active antibody therapeutics
for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases, announced today
that it has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation
Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and
Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH), to support the development of a novel antibody therapeutic
for celiac disease. This Phase I award provides Avaxia with
approximately $145,000 in research and development funds. If early
results are promising, the Company could receive an additional $1
million in Phase II funding.
“We are delighted to have been awarded this grant from the NIH
in recognition of the potential of our novel approach to the
treatment of celiac disease,” said Barbara S. Fox, Ph.D., Avaxia’s
founder and CEO. “This NIH support provides the funding we need to
advance the development of our anti-gluten antibody into
pre-clinical models of celiac disease, which is a serious lifelong
inherited autoimmune condition, affecting more than 2 million
children and adults in the U.S. alone.”
About Celiac Disease. Celiac disease is an inherited, autoimmune
disease in which the lining of the small intestine is damaged from
eating gluten and other proteins found in wheat, barley, rye, and
possibly oats. Celiac disease is also known as celiac sprue,
nontropical sprue, and gluten-sensitive enteropathy. The
disease can develop at any point in life, from infancy to late
adulthood. The symptoms of celiac disease can vary
significantly from person to person with the most common being
abdominal bloating and pain, chronic diarrhea, vomiting,
constipation and weight loss. There is no medication
available to treat the disease. Patients must f
‘/>”/>
