NIH grant for $1.83 million goes to Kalamazoo company

A Kalamazoo company working with researchers at the University of Missouri-St. Louis is dedicated to finding treatments for human papillomavirus, or HPV, the cause of most cervical cancer.The National Institutes of Health continues to support that effort. Kalamazoo-based Nanovir and scientists at the University of Missouri–St. Louis have received a $1.83 million, five-year grant. The funding, designated as an ROI grant, is intended to support a specified research project. The grant is called “Biophysics of Drug Interactions with Viral Episomes,” and will allow scientists to learn more about the small, circular pieces of DNA known as episomes.Three previous small business grants have specifically have been designated to help NanoVir work on commercialization of the treatments it is pursuing, rather than basic research. This grant, however, will fund studies of the fundamentals of the anti-viral drug necessary to take it to market, says Chris Fisher, director of biology at NanoVir, LLC.The lead investigator for the project, James Bashkin of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and the Center for Nanoscience at UMSL, is collaborating with Fisher.”We are working toward an understanding of molecules that were designed to be therapeutic treatments for early intervention against cancer-causing forms of HPV,” Bashkin says.Specifically, the researchers are seeking insight into how episomes binding the viral DNA results in its elimination from cells.Bashkin says there are two vaccines on the market that protect against two of the eight known forms of HPV that cause cancer. Further, the vaccines currently available aren’t yet used by enough people to have realized their full potential impact. A new drug therapy would treat women who would not benefit from the vaccines.In 2007, the National Cancer Institute estimated that 11,000 women in the United States would be diagnosed with this type of cancer and nearly 4,000 would die from it. There are no drugs currently approved in the United States that specifically treats HPV infection. Cervical cancer is second only to breast cancer among lethal cancers that affect women worldwide.NIH supported the collaborative project through three previous Small Business Technology Transfer grants to NanoVir, one of which is still ongoing. Bashkin and Fisher founded the company in 2003.The NIH, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research.Writer: Kathy JenningsSources: Chris Fisher, NanoVir, and the University of Missouri–St. Louis