Longeveron Secures $3.8M NIH Grant to Expand Stem Cell Therapy Research for Aging Frailty

Recently, VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) learned from foreign media reports that life sciences company Longeveron has received a $3.8 million NIH SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant for its research on developing stem cell therapies for aging-related frailty.

Headquartered in Miami, USA, Longeveron was founded in 2014 as a regenerative medicine therapeutics company dedicated to developing biological solutions for aging and age-related diseases. It aims to provide innovative biological therapies for age-related conditions by producing allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from adult bone marrow-derived MSCs.

Longeveron’s mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) product is derived from the bone marrow of young, healthy adult donors. Last year, Longeveron published Phase I and II clinical study reports in The Journals of Gerontology, evaluating the safety and efficacy of its MSCs in patients with age-related frailty. The company is currently conducting an expanded Phase IIb study on aging-related frailty.

It is reported that Longeveron is also conducting a Phase I clinical trial to evaluate mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in patients with clinically diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, there is a Phase I/II trial primarily designed to assess the safety and efficacy of stem cells in improving influenza vaccine immune responses in elderly frail patients.

The $3.8 million in funding marks the second NIH grant awarded to Longeveron this year. On January 9, Longeveron announced that it had received a $1.15 million STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) grant through the NIH’s Small Business Fast Track program to develop a therapy for metabolic syndrome.

The company stated that the grant would be used for clinical research on its mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to treat geriatric syndrome characterized by multisystem physiological decline. “A growing number of elderly individuals are recognizing the importance of diagnosing and treating this condition, as it is not an inevitable consequence of aging. We believe that biologically driven, cell-based therapies may have a significant beneficial impact on this disease,” said Joshua Hare, co-founder of Longeveron, in a statement.

In addition to NIH SBIR grants, the company announced on May 22 of this year that it had secured a $750,000 grant from TEDCO, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation. Furthermore, the company had previously received funding from the Alzheimer’s Association and TEDCO to support research on Alzheimer’s disease and clinical trials for hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), located in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, was founded in 1887 and is the premier U.S. agency for medical and behavioral research. Its mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and to apply that knowledge to enhance healthy life years and reduce the burden of illness and disability.

The research achievements made by the NIH in recent decades have significantly improved human health and well-being. Currently, the agency is conducting two programs: the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR). These programs provide opportunities for U.S.-based small businesses to participate in federal research and development with significant commercialization potential.