LaunchPad Medical Wins NIH HEAL Grant To Reduce Opioid Use And Addiction

The research conducted with this grant will extend and further enhance the company's dental bone graft solution with the localized release of non-opioid pain medications to reduce the need for opioids prescribed in conjunction with wisdom tooth extractions.

Lowell, MA PRNewswire/ - LaunchPad Medical, Inc. announced that it has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health through its Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative, to improve strategies for the prevention and treatment for opioid misuse and addiction. This Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant (1R43DE029369-01) will fund the development of a dental bone graft formulation that will include the release of locally acting non-opioid pain medication. Once developed, this product is intended to be used to fill extraction sites and mitigate post-operative pain following the removal of wisdom teeth.

"Data shows that there is a statistically significant absolute risk increase in persistent opioid use and abuse following a single course of opiates prescribed after wisdom tooth extractions," said George Kay, DMD, MMSc, LaunchPad Medical's Chief Scientific Officer. Approximately 10 million wisdom teeth are removed annually in the United States.

"Preliminary studies have shown that medication can be incorporated into our biomaterial and released over time," said Rahul Jadia, PhD, who is the principal investigator for this grant, "and the release profile of a target drug can be tailored to elicit an ideal time-dose curve."

This grant complements the existing grants that LaunchPad Medical has received from the NIH-funded Michigan-Pittsburgh-Wyss Regenerative Medicine Resource Center (U24DE026915) which was formed to improve the translation of promising tissue engineering and regenerative medicine technologies for dental, oral, and craniofacial clinical practice. Funding from the Michigan-Pittsburgh-Wyss Regenerative Medicine Resource Center has enabled LaunchPad Medical to develop and optimize a dental graft based on the company's Tetranite® technology that resorbs and is replaced by bone on a timescale commensurate with existing graft materials but does not require ancillary fixation or containment devices like most other dental graft materials.

"The incorporation of therapeutics into this bone grafting material would further increase the value proposition and clinical utility of this product," said David Kohn, PhD, Director of the Michigan-Pittsburgh-Wyss Regenerative Medicine Resource Center.

About LaunchPad Medical, Inc.
LaunchPad Medical, Inc. is a medical device company engaged in the development and commercialization of a patented, synthetic, injectable, self-setting, and osteoconductive bone adhesive biomaterial called Tetranite®. The company is initially developing this technology for use in the dental market, and recently initiated its first-in-man clinical study for implant stabilization. The company is also working to develop adhesive applications for the broader orthopedics market. LaunchPad Medical's Tetranite technology is not yet approved for commercial use.