
Spinogenix Recognizes Dr. Craig Erickson following $17.25 Million Autism Research Grant to Cincinnati Children's Hospital
Grant Will Support Spinogenix Chief Medical Advisor's Research into Precision Medicine and EEG
LOS ANGELES, June 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Spinogenix, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering novel therapeutics that have the potential to restore synapses to improve the lives of patients worldwide, today recognized Chief Medical Advisor, Craig Erickson, MD and Cincinnati Children's Hospital for receiving a $17.25 million, five-year grant from the Aligning Research to Impact Autism (ARIA) initiative. The grant acknowledges Dr. Erickson's leading research in Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and autism, including the recent Phase 2a study assessing SPG601 for FXS.
Through the grant, Cincinnati Children's will join the independent philanthropy-funded network, called Innovative Medicine and Precision Approaches to Clinical Trials (IMPACT) as one of 10 sites worldwide. IMPACT aims to build a shared repository containing deep medical data about people living with autism that ultimately will support clinical trials to test innovations. Dr. Erickson will serve as principal investigator for the hospital's work within the IMPACT network and will study how EEG can be leveraged to better understand an individual child's biology, guiding the development of precision medicines for autism.
"Craig's leadership has helped shape the field's understanding of autism for more than two decades," said Dr. Stella Sarraf, CEO and Founder of Spinogenix. "This significant grant recognizes both his scientific leadership and his unwavering commitment to advancing precision medicine approaches for neurodevelopmental disorders."
Autism spectrum disorder affects an estimated 1 in 31 children and 1 in 45 adults in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers increasingly believe autism encompasses a broad range of biologically distinct conditions that require more individualized therapeutic approaches.
"This initiative offers a major opportunity to further our understanding of the specific causes of autism," said Craig Erickson, MD, Chief Medical Advisor for Spinogenix. "By combining EEG biomarkers, genomic analysis and deep longitudinal phenotyping, the IMPACT network will help create the foundation for future precision clinical trials. Importantly, it will allow researchers to better identify which patients are most likely to benefit from emerging therapies and ensure research reflects the full diversity of individuals living with autism."
About Spinogenix
Current treatments for neurodegenerative, neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions primarily focus on slowing disease progression or minimizing symptoms, leaving many without hope for improvement. Spinogenix is aiming to transform the treatment of these conditions through its pioneering first-in-class and paradigm-shifting synaptic regenerative and synaptic corrective therapeutics designed to restore depleted synapses and reverse synaptic degeneration and dysfunction.
Spinogenix is developing two novel therapeutics: Tazbentetol (SPG302), which is designed to trigger neurons to produce new glutamatergic synapses and restore cognitive, motor, and other functions in ALS, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and other diseases; and SPG601, which is designed to work at the synaptic level to correct specific dysfunctions in Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) that underlie many core symptoms. The company has received Orphan Drug designations from FDA and EMA for tazbentetol in ALS as well as FDA Orphan Drug and Fast Track designations for SPG601 in FXS. More information on Spinogenix can be found at www.spinogenix.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
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SOURCE Spinogenix
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