Neuraltus Pharmaceuticals Awarded $733,437 Under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Projects Grant Program (QTDP)

PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 5, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Neuraltus Pharmaceuticals, a privately held biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing high-impact therapeutics that address critical unmet needs, primarily in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, announced today the Company was awarded three grants totaling $733,437 under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Projects Grant Program (QTDP).  The grants are being provided under section 48D of the Internal Revenue Code, enacted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.  The grants will be used to advance Neuraltus' product pipeline, including NP001, NP002 and NP003.  

Neuraltus currently is evaluating NP001 for the treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease) in an ongoing Phase 1 study. NP001 is a novel small molecule that regulates macrophage activation, with potential application to a number of neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.  NP002, Neuraltus' small molecule, nicotinic receptor agonist currently is in a Phase 1/2 study for L-dopa-induced dyskinesias (muscle movement disorders), a primary side effect of L-dopa treatment in Parkinson's disease patients.  In addition, Neuraltus is developing NP003, an orally bioavailable, small molecule designed to treat lysosomal storage disorders such as Fabry's disease and Gaucher's disease, as well as Parkinson's disease.

Andrew Gengos, Neuraltus' President and CEO, commented, "We are very pleased to receive this grant.  There remain significant unmet needs in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, specifically, ALS, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.  Each of Neuraltus' programs represents a first-in-class approach to treating these indications.  With the help of the QTDP grant, Neuraltus will be able to further develop NP001, NP002 and NP003."

Under the QTDP program, tax credits or grants were made available to companies with 250 or less employees to encourage therapeutic discovery projects that showed a reasonable potential to result in new therapies to treat areas of unmet medical need or prevent, detect or treat chronic or acute diseases and conditions; reduce the long-term growth of health care costs in the United States; or significantly advance the goal of curing cancer within 30 years.  For additional information on the QTDP program, please visit http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/QTDP_PIM.

About Neuraltus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Neuraltus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a privately held biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing high-impact therapeutics that address critical unmet needs, primarily in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.  Neuraltus has three clinical-stage programs in its development pipeline, including potential treatments for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease), Parkinson's disease and dyskinesias associated with the treatment of Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and multiple sclerosis, as well as lysosomal storage disorders such as Fabry's disease and Gaucher's disease.  Each of Neuraltus' clinical-stage programs is advancing novel drug molecules that represent new, first-in-class approaches to treating the Company's target disease indications.

Neuraltus began operations in 2009 based on a broadly enabling technology portfolio and intellectual property assembled by the company founders, Michael McGrath, MD, PhD, Professor of Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco; Edgar Engleman, MD, Professor of Medicine and Pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine; and Ari Azhir, PhD.  In March 2009 Neuraltus closed a $17M Series A financing with leading venture groups Latterell Venture Partners, VantagePoint Venture Partners and Adams Street Partners.  For more information on Neuraltus, please visit www.neuraltus.com.

SOURCE Neuraltus Pharmaceuticals