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RALEIGH – GeneVentiv Therapeutics, a Triangle-area pre-clinical gene therapy company, has been awarded a $250,000 Strategic Research Loan (SRL) from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NCBC).
The loan will enable the company to conduct pre-clinical studies, said Damon Race, CEO of GeneVentiv Therapeutics, in a statement.
GeneVentiv is focused on therapies for blood diseases and disorders. Last year, the company was granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its lead program, GENV HEM.
Now, the company will use the loan funds to prepare for an investigational new drug (IND) application and human clinical trials, Race noted in the statement.
“This funding from the NC Biotechnology Center adds to our momentum,” said Race.
Treating patients
The company’s technology is licensed from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, according to prior reporting from the North Carolina Business News Wire. That 2020 report noted the company planned to move the therapy into clinics by the middle of 2022.
And the startup was spun out of UNC’s Gene Therapy Center. The startup’s hemophilia treatment is based on research from Chengwen Li, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of pediatrics and the leader of a research lab that is focused on rare disease gene therapy.
According to the company, GENV HEM “offers a cure for all types of hemophilia patients with or without inhibitors to their missing clotting factors.”
The therapy is meant to treat Hemophilia A or B patients with or without inhibitors, a company statement released this week noted.
Race said in the company’s statement this week that the startup firm has also added a second gene therapy for hemophilia arthropathy as it continues to research therapies to assist patients. GeneVentiv Therapeutics
“The North Carolina Biotechnology Center conducts rigorous due diligence and receiving this award represents another point of external validation for our lead program,” said Race.