Co-Founders Awarded Grant to Develop Novel Therapeutic Candidates for Premature Infants
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Herald Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing life-saving therapies for cardiopulmonary diseases, today announced that Chief Research & Development Officer Robert J. Schumacher, PhD, and Chief Scientific Officer David H. Ingbar, MD, received a Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics grant through the Translational Product Development Fund.
The $106,300 grant will be matched by the University of Minnesota and will support the continued development of thyroid hormone T3-based therapeutics for premature infants with Infant Respiratory Distress Syndrome (IRDS).
Herald Therapeutics lead candidate, ThyrOxy™, is a targeted lung-safe form of T3 in clinical development for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). “Similar to ARDS patients, infants born prematurely have immature lungs with low systemic levels of T3, resulting in the inability to clear lung fluid and reduced lung surfactant,” said Timothy P. Rich, MD, Herald Therapeutics co-founder and Chief Medical Officer.
In addition to ThyrOxy, Herald Therapeutics has developed novel T3 prodrugs—patent-pending new chemical entities with optimized physiochemical characteristics. “T3 has limited aqueous solubility,” said Dr. Schumacher. “Our T3 prodrug compounds were designed to have improved solubility and to be converted to T3 by alkaline phosphatases on the lung epithelium. In preclinical studies, our two lead T3 prodrug candidates are at least 35-fold more soluble than T3 and are efficiently converted to T3. Due to their significantly improved aqueous solubility and modified physiochemical characteristics, the prodrugs may also provide a more advantageous T3 biodistribution and activity after direct lung instillation.”
“This new funding will allow us to fully characterize the T3 prodrugs and to select the optimal T3 drug to advance into clinical development for Infant Respiratory Distress Syndrome,” said Dr. Ingbar. “We are excited about the potential for these T3 prodrugs to help infants born prematurely with IRDS as well as other patients who have pulmonary edema or lung inflammation.”
About ThyrOxy
ThyrOxy™ is Herald Therapeutics’ proprietary thyroid hormone–based therapeutic platform, designed to address the fundamental biology of acute lung injury. In addition to its lead indication in ARDS, ThyrOxy is being advanced in Infant Respiratory Distress Syndrome (IRDS) and Acute Heart Failure. ThyrOxy was originally developed at the University of Minnesota and is exclusively licensed to Herald Therapeutics.
About Herald Therapeutics
Herald Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, developing ThyrOxy, a thyroid hormone–based therapeutic platform targeting life-threatening lung and cardiac diseases. The Company’s lead programs are in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), Infant Respiratory Distress Syndrome (IRDS), and Acute Heart Failure. For more information, please visit heraldtx.com.
Investor & Media Contact
Wade Smith, CEO
Herald Therapeutics, Inc.
wsmith@heraldtx.com | 412-216-9988