Virpax Pharmaceuticals said that it has signed a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) for evaluation of the company’s NobrXiol (VRP324) cannabidiol nasal powder in rodent models of epilepsy and seizures by the Epilepsy Therapy Screening Program (ETSP) of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health. The ETSP provides the screening service for compounds intended to treat drug resistant epilepsy at no cost to companies.
In December 2022, Virpax announced that it had conducted a pre-IND meeting with the FDA regarding NobrXiol and had received guidance on how to proceed. NobrXiol is based on molecular envelope technology (MET) that Virpax licensed from Nanomerics in September 2021. In April 2022, the company reported that a pre-clinical PK study of VRP324 in a rodent model demonstrated that nasal delivery of the CBD powder resulted in high concentrations in the brain.
Virpax Chairman and CEO Anthony P. Mack commented, “We are developing NobrXiol for the management of rare pediatric epilepsy and believe that with our MET delivery platform we may achieve higher bioavailability via the nasal route, faster onset and reduce side effects. This is an exciting collaboration for us and we look forward to working with this extremely knowledgeable group that is solely focused on the unmet medical needs of epilepsy.”
Read the Virpax Pharmaceuticals press release.
