NIH Fast-Track Grant for Novel Therapeutic to Treat Glioblastoma Awarded to Rosalind Franklin University Helix 51 Incubator Company
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U.P. Oncolytics, a company in Rosalind Franklin University’s Helix 51 biomedical incubator, has earned an NIH fast-track grant for the development of a novel treatment for a deadly form of brain cancer.
The $500,000 award for Year 1 of the company’s Phase I-Phase II SBIR Fast-Track grant will fund U.P. Oncolytics’ proposed in vitro and in vivo IND-enabling studies on the “Validation of a novel treatment for glioblastoma using oncolytic Zika virus.” Fast-Track grants, aimed at minimizing funding gaps, are awarded to “scientifically meritorious projects that have a high potential for commercialization,” according to the NIH.
Nearly 10,000 people in the U.S. are estimated to have died in 2023 from glioblastoma, according to the National Brain Tumor Society. The most common form of malignant brain cancer, glioblastoma accounts for 50% of all malignant brain tumors. The five-year relative survival rate for the disease is 6.9%. Median survival is eight months.
“Glioblastoma is highly resistant to treatment and progresses rapidly,” said U.P. Oncolytics co-founder and CEO Richard Rovin, MD, a neurosurgeon at Advocate Aurora Health. “There have been very few significant advances during the last 20 years in the treatment of this devastating disease.”
Parvez Akhtar, PhD, U.P. Oncolytics co-founder and CSO, said that the company’s initial in vitro and in vivo work shows that Zika virus can defeat glioblastoma’s resistance mechanisms, including the blood-brain barrier.
“We are looking to validate these findings with additional studies so we can progress this novel therapeutic approach towards an FDA Investigational New Drug (IND) application and, ultimately, clinical trial,” Dr. Akhtar said.
“We are greatly encouraged by U.P. Oncolytics’ research,” said RFU Executive Vice President for Research Dr. Ronald Kaplan. “We’re looking to a future where effective treatments for glioblastoma translate to survivorship.”