Celestial Therapeutics Announces SBIR Fast Track Grant Award
Celestial Therapeutics Inc. (“Celestial”), an innovative preclinical stage biotechnology company developing next generation mRNA vaccines and ground breaking dual modal antiviral/anti-inflammatory therapeutics to treat, prevent and cure infectious diseases, inflammatory conditions and cancers, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a fast track SBIR National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant worth $2,024,890. The first phase of the grant award is for $290,117 and upon successful completion of the first phase, Celestial would be eligible to receive the grant award for the remaining amount. The grant will provide non-dilutive funding for the development of a novel dry powder inhalation therapeutic based on Celestial’s proprietary lipid platform for the treatment and prevention of Respiratory Syncytial Viral (RSV) infections.
To date, no safe and effective therapeutics are available for the treatment and prevention of RSV infections. Human RSV infections have an estimated global incidence of 33 million cases in children younger than 5 years with up to 234,000 dying of the disease each year. Although often characterized as a pediatric disease, RSV infection in adults aged 65 years or older represent a substantial health burden. Failures of late-phase trials for vaccines and therapies based on monoclonal antibodies prompt the development of novel interventions for RSV. To address this urgent medical need, Celestial is developing an innovative therapeutic that has the potential for prophylaxis and treatment of RSV and other viral infections in all age groups world-wide.
Dr. Ajay Gupta, Celestial’s CEO states “There is a huge unmet medical need to develop safe and effective products for the prevention and treatment of RSV infections. Our novel therapeutic product is not only an effective antiviral agent but also a potent anti-inflammatory while serving as both a prophylactic and a therapeutic. Our novel dry powder inhalation therapeutic could be stored at ambient conditions, easily transported to different regions of the world and could be easily administered to both young and old populations, thus leading to a potential significant reduction in the burden of RSV infections globally. We are very excited about securing this non-dilutive funding from NIAID/NIH as it validates the strength of our mission, science, innovation and our product development strategy”.
About Celestial Therapeutics
Celestial Therapeutics is developing novel and ground breaking anti-viral/anti-inflammatory therapeutics and mRNA vaccines/therapeutics to treat, prevent and cure infectious diseases, inflammatory conditions and cancers. Celestial’s mission is to effectively treat respiratory viral infections & inflammation, cancers, prevent pandemics, save lives, reduce healthcare costs and address unmet medical needs for millions of patients worldwide. Founded in 2019, Celestial has rapidly built a diverse portfolio based on innovative innate immunity platform technologies. Celestial’s lead therapeutic, CT-02 is a first-in-class of a new class of broad spectrum anti-infective/anti-inflammatory drugs initially being developed for the treatment of Respiratory Syncytial Virus. Celestial is also developing next generation mRNA vaccines and therapeutics for a variety of indications based on its novel and proprietary Stellar-mRNA platform. The Celestial team consists of industry veterans and prominent academicians with a proven track record.
To learn more, visit https://www.celestialtherapeutics.com
Contacts:
Leontis Teryazos - SVP Finance lteryazos@celestialtherapeutics.com