David Sullivan, MD, Johns Hopkins University receives a 3 year CDMRP grant entitled “A Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Immunocompromised Mouse Model of the Human Tick-Borne Disease Babesia microti”
AliquantumRx Inc. announces that David Sullivan, MD, professor JHU and Chairman of the Board at AliquantumRx Inc. has received a 3 year Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) Tick-Borne Disease Research Program (TBDRP) Idea Award entitled “A Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Immunocompromised Mouse Model of the Human Tick-Borne Disease Babesia microti”. Dr. Sullivan will explore FDA-approved drugs and anti-infectives for superior pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic Babesia parasite killing relationships among the full spectrum of antimalarials and mitochondrial or apicoplast targeting drugs. The goal and expected outcome of this project is to identify more potent treatment regiments to eradicate Babesia parasites from the host, especially in immunocompromised patients. The preliminary data presented in the grant showed that Cethromycin treatment for babesiosis works but may need to be applied for longer duration. The proposed experiments will lay the foundation for preclinical work to design critical combination drug studies for human efficacy trials.
“This is very exciting news”, said Nik Kaludov, President, AliquantumRx Inc. “AliquantumRx will be the natural commercial partner to facilitate moving the novel anti-babesiosis therapeutic regiment toward the next phase of development. “Alternative chemotherapeutic options against Babesia are urgently needed in the wake of the increasing number of treatment failures using current combination therapies” added Dr. Sullivan.