Federal Grant Awarded To Chicago BioMed Firm To Advance Research on Thalassemia,
Among the World’s Largest Hereditary Disorder; Firm Has Potential “in Vitro” Cure
Errant Gene Therapy Awarded Maximum Level Grant for Thalagen Treatment
Chicago, IL November 4, 2010 — Errant Gene Therapeutics, LLC
(EGT), a
biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, announced that it has been
awarded a $245,000 grant under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) program.
The QTDP, created by U.S. Congress as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
of 2010, is designed to promote medical research that could improve health and save lives.
“We are extremely pleased that our Thalagen™ project has been reviewed and assessed
positively by the federal government, resulting in a grant at the maximum level available under
the QTDP grant program” said Pat Girondi, EGT’s Chief Executive Officer. “These funds and
other sources continue to help support EGT’s ongoing research and development programs.”
EGT said it will use the grant to further advance its international clinical programs for Thalagen,
for which it has already secured designation as an Orphan Drug in both the US and European
for chronic beta Thalassemias (also called Cooley’s Anemia). Thalagen is an applied
regenerative therapy that seeks to permanently end transfusion dependence for patients,
essentially curing this disease. Thalassemia, a deadly genetic condition, is one of the world’s
largest hereditary
blood
disorders. The company said it plans to launch the US Phase 1 human
clinical trials of Thalagen in Q1 2011.
The QTDP was intended specifically to provide incentive to smaller companies who are focusing
on innovative therapeutic discoveries that show potential to produce new therapies that address
areas of unmet medical need, and reduce long-term health care costs. In addition, awards took
into consideration research that demonstrates the greatest potential to create and sustain high-
quality, high-paying U.S. jobs and to advance U.S. competitiveness in life, biological and
medical sciences.
About Errant Gene Therapeutics, LLC
Errant Gene Therapeutics™ (EGT) is a privately held biopharmaceutical company established
in 2003. The Company’s Applied Genetics Platform, include intellectual property, know-how and
licenses being developed to directly target deadly hereditary disorders, including chronic beta
thalassemia and hemoglobinopathies. In addition, EGT is a pioneer in the field of epigenetics,
where its patents and know-how are being developed to enable the treatment of deadly
hormone refractory cancers using its portfolio of small molecule histone deacetylases inhibitors.
EGT partnered with alliantgroup, the nation’s premier provider of specialty tax services, during
the application process. For more information about alliantgroup, please call (713) 877-9600 or
go to www.alliantgroup.com.
For more information about Errant Gene Therapeutics and its programs, visit
www.errantgene.com
.
You can also call:
Pat Girondi, CEO:
+1 (312) 441-1800 x11
Sam Salman, President:
+1 (312) 441-1800 x12