From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Nikki Johnston, co-founder of N-Zyme Biomedical.
The company is developing a new drug treatment for a lesser known form of acid reflux called laryngopharyngeal reflux, or LPR. It affects as many as 20% of Americans, according to figures provided by the business, and no medications currently exist to treat it.
Johnston emphasizes this “significant unmet clinical need” for patients with LPR, who don’t experience the same heartburn feeling as those with more typical gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD.
“They suffer from chronic cough, hoarseness, globus — which is a sensation of something stuck in your throat — dysphagia, which is problems with swallowing,” she said. “But chronic LPR can also contribute to more life-threatening illnesses such as … laryngeal cancer.”
Treatments for GERD are ineffective at treating LPR, she explained. As an alternative, N-Zyme Biomedical has an approach for inhibiting the damaging effects of pepsin, the digestive enzyme found in the stomach. Trials have shown the company’s drug leads to “a significantly lower incidence” of LPR for patients, Johnston said.
“So very encouraging epidemiological data that supports our hypothesis,” she said, adding the therapeutic has “a really good safety and tolerability profile.”
She also touts the company’s team of strategic advisors spanning clinical practice, drug development, pharmaceutical business and regulatory expertise.
To date, the business has raised about $3 million, with investments supporting the drug reformulation process and clinical trials to assess the drug’s efficacy. Its first clinical trial is expected to begin in the next several months with a target of 104 patients.
“Our trial is more than three times oversubscribed … We currently have approximately 400 people interested, so we’ll be able to complete it expeditiously,” she said, adding “we’re excited to start this summer.”
Ultimately, Johnston says tens of millions of Americans could benefit from the treatment N-Zyme Biomedical is developing.
“I still hear from patients on a daily basis suffering from this,” she said. “When you think of reflux, you think, ‘Well, it could be annoying but it’s not that bad.’ But you know, it’s patients that use their voice on a day-to-day basis for teaching and singing. And also I think any kind of chronic condition over a long period of time just becomes very debilitating.”
Listen to the podcast and see the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts.
— U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan said the GOP House-passed reconciliation bill is “without question the worst bill” he has seen and argued its cuts to health care and food benefits will harm millions of Wisconsinites.
“This is the single largest cut to health care in American history,” the Town of Vermont Democrats said. “$700 billion from Medicaid, $300 billion from the ACA exchanges. So that adds up to a trillion dollars, in addition to the half a trillion in Medicare.”
The House narrowly passed the reconciliation spending bill last week, mostly along party lines.
Pocan called U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, “extremist” for wanting the Senate to make more cuts in its version of the bill, arguing he wants it to be more “draconian.”
Johnson said at the WisPolitics-Milwaukee Press Club luncheon this week that the bill was not reducing spending enough. He also criticized President Barack Obama for cutting work requirements for Medicaid and argued that too many working, able-bodied adults are taking advantage of the program.
Pocan yesterday said there’s no proof work requirements help spending, and they just add more red tape and inhibit people’s access to health care.
See a recent story on how some state industries view the reconciliation bill.
— WARF and California investment firm Nexus NeuroTech Ventures are providing $100,000 in research funding for three UW-Madison projects focused on neurological disorders.
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation recently announced the funding recipients, who were selected from among 13 applicants. The Neurotechnology Challenge Grant is meant to support new approaches for diagnosing and treating disorders of the brain.
John Propst, who leads Nexus NeuroTech Ventures’ Incubator Program, says each funded project “embodies the kind of science-driven innovation our firm seeks to back — technologies that are not only novel, but also grounded in strong scientific fundamentals with clear pathways to impact patients living with brain disorders.”
Recipients include: Larissa Albantakis, a psychiatry researcher exploring a method for personalized brain stimulation; Ali Mohebi, a psychology specialist with a project focused on the neurotransmitter dopamine; and Vatsan Raman, a biochemist working on Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.
See the release below.
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