BioCorRx Secures $5.6M NIH/NIDA Grant to Advance BICX102 for Alcohol and Opioid Use Disorders

Recently, VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) learned that BioCorRx announced this month it had received a two-year grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to support the development of BICX102, its extended-release naltrexone implant for the treatment of opioid and alcohol addiction.

The funding will be disbursed in two phases. The first phase (February 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020) allocates $2.8 million, and the second phase will provide an additional $2.8 million based on project progress.

BioCorRx, headquartered in California, USA, is a pharmaceutical company providing advanced solutions for the treatment of alcohol and opioid addiction. BICX102 is an extended-release naltrexone implant developed by the company for the treatment of opioid use disorder and alcohol addiction.

Naltrexone is an opioid receptor antagonist that can significantly attenuate or completely block opioid receptors, and even reverse the effects produced by intravenous administration of opioids. After oral administration, naltrexone is rapidly absorbed in the human body, reaching peak plasma concentration within one hour. It undergoes rapid metabolism, resulting in a short duration of action. Therefore, sustained-release naltrexone implants play a positive role in improving patient compliance.

BioCorRx has launched an outpatient Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) program for alcohol and opioid addiction, based on the pharmacological principles of naltrexone. This rehabilitation program primarily consists of two components.

The first component of the project includes outpatient implantation procedures performed by licensed physicians. This implantation procedure delivers a non-addictive medication, the opioid antagonist naltrexone, which significantly reduces cravings for alcohol and opioids and prevents fatal opioid overdose in the event of patient relapse.

The second component of BioCorRx’s program is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), specifically tailored for patients undergoing long-term naltrexone therapy for the treatment of alcohol and other drug abuse addictions.

Addiction is a powerful disease affecting more than 23 million people in the United States alone. The annual cost of addiction is estimated at $700 billion. More than 85% of patients with alcohol abuse or dependence do not receive treatment; over 2 million people in the U.S. misuse prescription painkillers, and approximately 900,000 individuals use heroin (an illegal opioid).

Currently, treatment options for patients with opioid addiction are limited. BICX102, developed by BioCorRx, represents a new discovery that will impact patients with addiction. In addition to blocking dependence on opioids, BICX102 can effectively serve as an adjunctive therapy for individuals with alcohol dependence. In the United States, 12.7% of adults meet the diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorder.

“Thanks to the NIH/NIDA reviewers for their confidence in BioCorRx’s project and for awarding this grant to support the development of BioCorRx, which validates the clinical potential of BICX102 in treating opioid use disorder,” said Brady Granier, CEO of BioCorRx.

Two days after BioCorRx announced that it had secured funding support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)/National Institutes of Health (NIH), BioCorRx held a new drug meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding its naltrexone implant, BICX102. During the meeting, BioCorRx discussed detailed information about BICX102 as well as its commercialization development plan. Based on the outcomes of the meeting, BioCorRx will continue to advance the research and development of BICX102 as planned. For BioCorRx, rapidly advancing BICX102 through the regulatory pathway is now within imminent reach.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a biomedical research agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, conducts its own scientific research through intramural programs and provides biomedical research funding to non-NIH research institutions and companies through extramural programs. The NIH has achieved notable scientific accomplishments, such as the discovery of fluoride for preventing dental caries and the development of lithium therapy for treating bipolar disorder.