Date: Oct 16, 2015 Source: Tuscon.com (
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University of Arizona technology spinoff has been awarded a federal grant to develop a new anti-inflammatory drug based on the common spice turmeric, the UA said Friday.
Scottsdale-based BotanisAol
LLC has been awarded a small-business technology grant of about $225,000 by the National Institutes of Health and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health to develop the new anti-inflammatory, called TAI-LCx, the UA said in a news release.
The turmeric-based drug could be a possible replacement for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen, aspirin and naproxen, says Tech Launch Arizona, the UA's technology commercialization arm.
The UA said the turmeric-based drug technology was originally developed by Barbara Timmermann, a former UA Regents Professor of pharmacology and toxicology, Clark Lantz, UA professor of cellular and molecular medicine, and their colleagues.
Timmermann left the UA in 2005 and is now a distinguished professor in the department of medicinal chemistry at the University of Kansas.
The UA noted that though the drug is based on essential oils of turmeric, it is not a derivative of curcumin, an active ingredient in turmeric that has been studied by other UA scientists and is sold as a dietary supplement.
Early published research has shown the drug to be a promising treatment for inflammation and inflammatory pain that uses a different pathway than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to achieve safer treatment results, the UA said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently strengthened required drug-label warnings that NSAIDs can cause heart attacks or strokes, the UA noted.
TAI-LCx is especially promising because research has shown that it reduces inflammation without affecting an enzyme, known as COX-2, that is directly linked to cardiovascular problems caused by NSAIDs, Botanisol CEO and co-founder P. Scott Waterhouse said in prepared remarks.
The drug compound was discovered at the UA under NIH-supported research. Through Tech Launch Arizona, the UA patented the technology and licensed it exclusively to Botanisol, the UA said.
The grant was awarded under the federal Small Business Technology Transfer program.
