Small Business Grant Awarded for Blood Vessel Drug Database

(Wikimedia Commons)

HemoShear LLC, a biotechnology company in Charlottesville, Virginia has been awarded a Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant award from National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant of up to $4.3 million will fund profiles of the effects of 50 known drugs on the human blood vessel system.

The database will help predict the safety and effectiveness of potential new drug candidates. HemoShear will use its bioinformatics technology to develop a predictive gene signature to score new drug compounds for vascular safety risk. The company says there are no technologies available to the pharmaceutical industry to address this need.

This grant is the third SBIR award HemoShear has received from NIH in two years. The company received a Phase 1 SBIR grant in April 2010 which funded development of what it calls a human surrogate vascular inflammation system. This system has been validated and is being used in customer research programs. HemoShear was awarded a second Phase 1 SBIR grant in April 2011 to develop a rodent liver surrogate system as a first step towards development of an advanced human liver system.

Phase 1 SBIR grants establish the technical merit, feasibility, and commercial potential of proposed research or R&D projects, and determine the quality of performance of the small business awardee organization before providing further federal support. Phase 2 grants support the continuation of the R&D, with funding levels determined by the scientific and technical merit and commercial potential of the project.

Only small, for-profit businesses — no more than 500 employees — with 51 percent or greater ownership by American citizens or resident aliens can qualify for SBIR grants.

Read more: Genomic Behavior Profile Developed of Human Arteries

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