Researchers sign-up to keep up-to-date on funding opportunities, activities and Epilepsy Therapy Project events.

The Epilepsy Therapy Project - Matching Grants Towards the Commercialization of Promising Therapies

The Epilepsy Therapy Project offers 1:1 matching grants of up to $100,000 to academic and commercial entities to support the commercialization of novel approaches to the treatment of epilepsy. These matching funds seek to leverage other resources, and accelerate the pace of therapeutic advance. Proposals will be evaluated by our Scientific Advisory Board together with our Business Advisory Board. We seek to fund discrete steps along the commercial pathway that if successful will enable a project to gain further funding. We welcome a broad span of proposals. Examples of the kind of work we would hope to support include: pre-clinical evaluation and testing of compounds or devices with novel mechanisms of action; and early clinical proof-of-principal trials of compounds or devices. Below are some specific project areas identified by our SAB, which illustrate the scope of our interests:

1. Directing a promising therapy towards epilepsy as a clinical pathway for regulatory approval. One example of this is work our founders have done with Cognetix, a Utah-based early stage drug development company utilizing conopeptides. While the company's compound had a number of potential therapeutic uses, the company chose to direct the initial clinical focus for its drug towards epilepsy.
2. Proof-of-principle trials, where a potentially valuable therapy is introduced to selected patients at leading epilepsy centers, under the close watch of leading epileptologists. A case here would be the use of a magnetic stimulation device therapy, which is being carried out in select leading epilepsy centers.
3. Helping to commercialize promising new epilepsy assays, which offer the ability to identify different targets using different mechanisms of action. An example here would be UCB Pharma's levetiracetam (Keppra), a new drug that failed earlier assays, but showed promise when screened with more recent assays.
4. Related to the previous example, we are exploring other promising compounds that have failed earlier assays, but may nonetheless offer value if screened against newer, better assays. While we cannot provide the funds necessary to carry a drug through clinical trials, our funds can help reduce risks in the pre-clinical stage, making subsequent clinical development more feasible. Armed with appropriate pre-clinical data, we can then introduce promising compounds to other investment capital sources for further funding and development.

Preference will be given to proposals that already have a commercial partner engaged to assist with development and to proposals that have committed or matched funding from the sponsoring institution, commercial partner or other third party source.

Proposals for research originating from outside the United States are welcome.

Address questions to grants@epilepsytherapyproject.org.