North Carolina Biotechnology Center grants $700,000 in awards

BT Catalyst, Jan-Feb, 2004

Three universities and six biotechnology companies have received awards totaling $700,000 from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center to advance their research relating to respiratory diseases, head lice, metabolic disorders, pulmonary embolism and drug metabolism.

BioMarck Pharmaceuticals of Durham, Piedmont Pharmaceuticals of Greensboro and Zen-Bio of Research Triangle Park each received $150,000 loans from the Center's Small Business Research Awards program. BioMarck Pharmaceuticals is developing a treatment for airway mucus hypersecretion that is associated with chronic bronchitis, asthma and cystic fibrosis. Piedmont Pharmaceuticals is evaluating the safety of a novel, topically applied head lice product. Zen-Bio is researching the culture and differentiation of visceral adipose cells, which have a strong correlation with metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Carolinas Medical Center, East Carolina University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill each received awards from the Center's Collaborative Funding Assistance program for research of commercial interest to be carried out at university labs. Carolinas Medical Center and BreathQuant Medical Systems of Charlotte received $100,000 to collaborate on development of a breath-based device to diagnose pulmonary embolism. East Carolina University and Endacea of Research Triangle Park received $50,000 to collaborate on development of a treatment for the bronchoconstriction and acute inflammation associated with asthma. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Qualyst of Research Triangle Park received $100,000 to collaborate on development of a novel method for screening drug candidates for their susceptibility to metabolic degradation.