CompleGen, Inc. and Temple University School of Medicine Awarded NIH Grant to Study Effectiveness of Allosteric Inhibitors in Acute Lung Injury

SEATTLE, Sept. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CompleGen, Inc. has received a Phase 1 STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the effectiveness of CompleGen's selective small molecule allosteric inhibitors for the treatment of sepsis-induced lung injury.

Dr. John Swindle, CompleGen's Founder, President and CEO, and Dr. Laurie Kilpatrick, Associate Professor of Physiology in the Center for Inflammation, Translational and Clinical Lung Research at Temple University School of Medicine, are co-principal investigators.

"The development of Acute Lung Injury (ALI) and the more severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is a major public health problem world-wide and one of the leading causes of death in intensive care units," said Dr. Kilpatrick.  "Current treatment is largely supportive and there is an urgent need for the development of novel therapeutic approaches directed at the underlying pathophysiology.

"To date, there are no specific pharmacologic therapies available that protect the lung from immune cell-mediated damage," she said.  "As the inflammatory response in sepsis is complex and comprised of multiple redundant and overlapping signaling pathways, rather than to focus on a single pathway, we chose to identify specific control points regulating multiple pathways."

"Allosteric inhibitors specific to the target in this study represents one of several preclinical development programs that have been enabled by our proprietary XenoGene™ discovery technology," said Dr. Swindle.

About CompleGen
CompleGen is a drug discovery company that uses its proprietary XenoGene™ technology to identify and develop selective allosteric inhibitors of difficult therapeutic targets.

About Temple University School of Medicine (TUSM)
Temple University School of Medicine (TUSM), established in 1901, is one of the nation's leading medical schools.  Each year, the School of Medicine educates approximately 720 medical students and 140 graduate students. Based on its level of funding from the National Institutes of Health, Temple University School of Medicine is the second-highest ranked medical school in Philadelphia and the third-highest in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  According to U.S. News & World Report, TUSM is among the top 10 most applied-to medical schools in the nation. 

CompleGen Contact:
Pauline Gee, PhD
Vice President, Business Development
CompleGen, Inc.
1124 Columbia Street, Suite 662
Seattle, WA 98104
[email protected]
+1.303.961.1773

Temple University School of Medicine Contact:
Steven Benowitz
3509 N. Broad Street, 9th floor
Philadelphia, PA 19140
[email protected]
+1.215.707.4784

SOURCE CompleGen, Inc.