NeurAxon Awarded Grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation to Research Novel Treatment Approach for Parkinson’s Disease
WALTHAM, MA – January 11, 2010 – NeurAxon, Inc., a development-stage pharmaceutical company that is designing and developing next-generation pain therapeutics targeting neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), today announced that it has been awarded a grant of $267,000 from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF). The grant, which was awarded as part of MJFF’s Novel Approaches to Drug Discovery for Parkinson’s Disease 2009 initiative, is designed to fund research to explore nNOS inhibitors as a potential novel treatment paradigm for Parkinson’s disease.
“We are honored to receive this grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation to help determine whether the regulation of nitric oxide through nNOS inhibition can play a meaningful role in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease,” said John S. Andrews PhD, President and Head of R&D of NeurAxon and Principal Investigator under the grant.
Under the grant, NeurAxon will seek to develop custom-designed, small-molecule, selective nNOS inhibitors. These compounds will be tested for the potential to reduce brain and systemic nitric oxide levels as well as the potential to demonstrate improved neuroprotective properties in in vitro and in vivo preclinical models of Parkinson’s disease. The terms of the grant provide for NeurAxon to receive the funds as the research is performed over an expected period of one year.
About The Michael J. Fox Foundation
The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease through an aggressively funded research agenda and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson’s today. To date, the Foundation has funded nearly $170 million in research. For more information on the Novel Approaches to Drug Discovery Program and the Foundation’s industry strategy, please visit www.michaeljfox.org/industry.
About NeurAxon, Inc.
NeurAxon, Inc. (www.neuraxon.com) discovers and develops next-generation pain therapeutics focused on its first-in-class selective inhibitors of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), an enzyme involved in modulating pain and central nervous system neuronal sensitization.