- New NIH Grant Brings Ixion Closer to Developing Treatment for Kidney Stones
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 ALACHUA, FL, October 2, 2001 - The National Institutes of Health has awarded Ixion a $786,633 SBIR Phase II grant for the biotechnology firm's study "Digestion of Food Oxalate." The new grant continues investigations that were initiated under the Phase I grant to develop an oral compound to be taken with meals that would reduce absorption of dietary oxalate and, therefore, offer a possible treatment for calcium oxalate kidney stones.
- Researchers have determined that dietary oxalate is a substantial component of urinary oxalate excretion. There also is strong evidence that dietary oxalate plays an important role in calcium oxalate stone formation, according to Harmeet Sidhu, PhD, Ixion's Vice President and Research Director, Oxalate Division. Sidhu, the principal investigator of the study, says that Ixion is completing preclinical development of a commercial probiotic product based on the oxalate-degrading bacterium, Oxalobacter formigenes.
- "Previously, we focused on Oxalobacter formigenes as an effective treatment for the condition. Preclinical studies demonstrated O. formigenes lowers urinary oxalate in rats and swine. This project, to be performed at Wake Forest University, will be the first IRB-approved study done on humans," Sidhu says. "A probiotic taken with each meal that would reduce urinary oxalate could potentially enhance the quality of life of the more than one million people who have calcium oxalate kidney stone disease. Ixion is preparing an IND for a Phase I/II clinical trial for this probiotic, which we hope to file before the end of the year."
- The two co-investigators are at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC: Dean Assimos, MD, professor of surgery (Urology) and Ross Holmes, Ph.D., associate professor of surgical sciences (Urology) and a member of the Ixion Scientific Advisory Board.
- Ixion has received eight research grants from the NIH in the last two years for more than $2 million in research funding.
- Ixion, the world's foremost company specializing in oxalate, also is engaged in discovering, developing, manufacturing, and marketing products to treat diabetes. Ixion is a subsidiary of Q-Med AB, whose shares are listed on the Stockholm stock exchange. For more information about Ixion's current activities, visit Ixion's web site at www.ixion-biotech.com or call 904-418-1428.
- This news release discusses historical information and includes forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, such as risks associated with pre-clinical and clinical development in the biotechnology industry, determinations by regulatory and administrative governmental authorities, competitive factors, technological developments and costs of developing, producing and selling products.
- Contacts:
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- Weaver H. Gaines
386-418-1428 (voice)
386-418-1583 (fax)
Info@ixion-biotech.com
Lisette Hilton
561-392-5649 (voice)
561-392-7496 (fax)
Info@ixion-biotech.com
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