712 North Inc. Awarded NIH SBIR Grant to Advance Discovery of Novel OMA1 Inhibitors

March 30, 2019 — 712 North Inc., an R&D-stage therapeutics company, announced today that the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded the company a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant (Award Number1R43AG063642-01 ).

The grant will fund the discovery and validation of small-molecule inhibitors of OMA1, a mitochondrial protease that plays a central role in mitochondrial distress and programmed cell death (apoptosis). By modulating OMA1 activity, 712 North aims to develop precision therapies that protect neurons from the mitochondrial failure characteristic of Alzheimer’s and other age-related diseases.

"The NIA has shown confidence in 712 North’s approach," said Dr. Marcel V. Alavi, CEO of 712 North and the Principal Investigator for the project, "and we are committed to making this project a success for patients with age-related diseases."

The NIA leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to develop interventions for age-related conditions. This SBIR project represents a critical step in 712 North’s mission to transition from early-stage research to the development of first-in-class mitochondrial medicines.

712 North is focused on personalized mitochondrial medicines for patients with Alzheimer’s and other age-related diseases. For more information, please visit www.712north.com.