Assuage Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies (TPIMS) spinoff company focused on developing novel treatments for addiction and pain management, is pleased to announce it was recently awarded a $1 million Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue work in developing a novel treatment for smoking cessation. The project is in collaboration with TPIMS and will focus on the advancement of discoveries previously made during an initial SBIR Phase I Award. Smoking remains the number one avoidable cause of death in the United States and costs the economy tens of billions of dollars every year. Current therapies have exhibited limited success and are often complicated with undesirable side effects, thus providing the need for better therapies. During the initial Phase I SBIR, advancements were made on the development of a therapy for smoking cessation working through a novel mechanism of action. These studies demonstrate that the therapy holds promise for reducing nicotine self-administration and reinstatement. The awarded Phase II SBIR will focus on advancing the project through preclinical studies directed at producing a therapeutic suitable for human clinical trials. The project period is for two years and will utilize the collaborative expertise of scientists from Assuage Pharmaceuticals and TPIMS.
