BellBrook Labs has been awarded a $1.8 million Phase II SBIR grant by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to develop lead molecules that block cyclic GAMP synthase (cGAS) for the treatment of lupus and other autoimmune diseases. BellBrook’s CEO, Dr. Robert Lowery is the principal investigator for the effort, and Dr. Keith Elkon, Head of Rheumatology at the University of Washington, Seattle, is a collaborator.
Lupus is the second most common autoimmune disease, affecting more than 300,000 people in U.S, with 16,000 new cases annually. Lupus patients suffer from various symptoms, including skin lesions, arthritis, and fatigue; it strikes women much more frequently than men. Though the disease can be mild, lupus causes major organ damage in 50% of cases; e.g., heart, lung, kidneys, brain, and results in a 67% increase in mortality. The underlying cause of lupus is constitutive over-activation of the immune system driven ...
