Dignify Gets $3.1 M in Grants for Bladder, Bowel Therapy

By Barry Teater, NCBiotech writer

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Dignify Therapeutics, a drug-development company focused on restoring bladder and bowel control to people with spinal injury, spina bifida, and other neurological conditions, has received $3.1 million in federal funding to advance its lead drug candidate.

The company, located in the First Flight Venture Center in Research Triangle Park, won three SBIR/STTR grants from the National Institutes of Health in the third quarter of this year. The grants were awarded by the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Institute on Aging.

The grants will support preclinical development of Dignify’s lead product, DTI-100, in preparation for a Phase I clinical study, as well as studies to identify second-generation compounds and alternative formulations. The work is being done in collaboration with the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dignify is developing novel pharmaceutical treatments for bladder and bowel dysfunction that are intended  to improve the quality of life for individuals who rely on bladder catheters and bowel programs for voiding. The company estimates the worldwide market potential for DTI-100 for people with spinal cord injury is about $400 million annually.

“We are very appreciative of these awards and continued support from the NIH,” Karl Thor, Ph.D. Dignify’s chief scientific officer, said in a news release. “NIH support is particularly valuable to a small company that is attempting to develop first-ever therapeutics. The insight gained from our pioneering, NIH-supported studies to develop an on-demand, rapid-onset, short-duration, drug-induced, voiding therapy will advance our lead drug development program and ultimately bring a safe, effective, and convenient voiding therapy to quadriplegic and paraplegic individuals to treat this severe, unmet, medical need.”

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has supported Dignify with $300,000 in loans: a $50,000 Company Inception Loan in 2013 to help establish the company and a $250,000 Small Business Research Loan in 2014 to support the preclinical development of DTI-100.

The Center’s funding helped Dignify attract $3.15 million in equity financing from RA Capital Management, Eshelman Ventures and Terry Engel, an angel investor.