Project Grant R44HD100256

The U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) awarded a $399,999 Project Grant to Sacyl Pharmaceuticals, Inc. under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865) to advance the development of a novel on-demand, non-hormonal male contraceptive towards Investigational New Drug (IND) enablement. The project aims to develop small molecule inhibitors of soluble adenylyl cyclase (ADCY10; SAC) in sperm, which has been genetically and...

This Project Grant award of $380,692 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research Federal Grant Program (CFDA 93.865), is for the development of an ultrapotent anti-sperm antibody construct for a non-hormonal contraceptive. The project aims to create a novel intravaginal ring product that releases an anti-sperm antibody to agglutinate and trap sperm, thereby preventing pregnancy. The award supports the...

This Project Grant award, provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), is funding a Phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetics of a novel contraceptive and microbicidal vaginal gel developed by Yaso Therapeutics Incorporated. The $545,966 award supports the first-in-human clinical assessment of the "YASO-GEL" product, which contains the active ingredient polyphenylene carboxymethylene sodium salt (PPCM). In addition to...

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) awarded a $383,114 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project grant (CFDA 93.865 - Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research) to Venova Technologies Inc., a women-led and minority-led medical device startup company. The grant funds the development of a novel, non-hormonal, long-acting female contraceptive device designed to address the critical unmet need for birth control options without hormonal...

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research Federal Grant Program (CFDA 93.865), awarded a $518,754 project grant to Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation. The goal of this project is to develop a bioadhesive vaginal film that can provide sustained release of contraceptive and antiviral monoclonal antibodies for 3-7 days. The film is intended to offer women a discreet, low-cost, and convenient...

This Project Grant award, funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865), is aimed at developing a sperm-specific epigenetic test to predict the time it takes for couples to conceive. The $306,872 award to Ripple Biosciences, LLC, with a project period from September 2025 to September 2026, will leverage the awardee's machine learning pipeline and existing...

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) awarded a $391,101 Project Grant under the Aging Research program (CFDA 93.866) to The Ohio State University to develop a novel nonsteroidal and nonhormonal agent that reverses menopause-related loss of genital epithelial integrity and function. The research aims to define the mechanism of action, optimize delivery, and establish the long-term safety profile of an EFNA3-mimetic agonist peptide (EFNA3-MAP) administered intravaginally to restore genital...

This $5.37 million project grant from the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Drug Abuse will fund the development of a context-aware digital adherence intervention called SMARTSTEPS to improve pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) adherence among men who have sex with men with substance use disorder. The grant will support two phases. Phase I will inform the specification of an algorithm that utilizes digital phenotyping data from a smartphone app to anticipate non-adherence based...

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) awarded a $613,556 Project Grant to Orygyn Medical Devices, LLC under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865) for the development of a novel Tubal Selective Delivery System (TSDS). The TSDS is designed to safely and conveniently evaluate fallopian tube patency in an office setting as part of the infertility workup, without the need for referral to a specialist or exposure to ionizing...

This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) provides $298,883 to Iaterion, Inc. to develop a safer menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) formula that can be used long-term to treat protracted menopausal symptoms and prevent chronic diseases like osteoporosis, diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. The project aims to create an estradiol/reprogramming ligand combination that can potentially replace the progestin component of current MHT...