Airway Therapeutics lands $1.9M NIH grant for preterm lung disease trial
What's the deal? Airway Therapeutics has won a $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of HealthDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to fund its US Phase 2b study of zelpultide alfa, a treatment aimed at preventing bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in very preterm infants. The award came through the National Heart, Lung, and Blood InstituteDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → under the Small Business Innovation Research program.
What does the company do? The Atlanta-based late-stage biopharmaceutical firm develops biologic therapies for respiratory, inflammatory, and infectious diseases. Zelpultide alfa is a recombinant human surfactant protein D therapy designed to restore protective lung functions in infants after birth, when immature lungs are prone to inflammation and injury.
Why it matters: BPD is a serious chronic lung disease of prematurity, and there are currently no approved preventive therapies. The Phase 2b/3 study will test the drug against standard of care in high-risk preterm neonates.
Why now? The program builds on favourable safety and tolerability results from a Phase 1b study, plus what the company called "a strong start" to the trial in Europe, Argentina, and Israel.
What they said: "This NIH award is an important recognition of the scientific rationale behind our program and the need for new preventive approaches in BPD," said Marc Salzberg, chairman and chief executive officer of Airway Therapeutics.
The signal: The funding is non-dilutive, meaning Airway advances a late-stage program without giving up equity — a notable route for a biotech pursuing an indication with no existing preventive treatments. At $1.9 million, the grant sits above the median for disclosed rounds in the sector, underscoring institutional confidence in the science.
Read more: finanznachrichten.de
Image credit: Airway Therapeutics
