Shares in Solvonis Therapeutics PLC (LSE:SVNS) rose 9% to 0.26p this morning after the company said its early-stage compound SVN-015 had been accepted into a US government scheme that will fund the first round of laboratory testing.
The biotech, which focuses on central nervous system disorders, said the drug candidate had been taken into the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Addiction Treatment Discovery Program.
NIDA, part of the National Institutes of Health, will pay for and run the initial safety studies, which involve laboratory tests designed to identify any early cardiovascular risks, the standard opening step for any potential medicine.
If those studies produce encouraging results, SVN-015 could move into NIDA-led efficacy work in validated preclinical models of methamphetamine and cocaine addiction.
Success at that stage would allow Solvonis to compete for a non-dilutive NIH research grant that can provide up to $3 million a year for as long as five years. These grants are contested, but the NIDA-funded work supplies the evidence needed to support an application.
The company said the programme gives it a meaningful opportunity to extend its research beyond alcohol use disorder into stimulant addictions, where no approved drug treatments currently exist.
Professor David Nutt, chief scientific officer, called the acceptance “a major step forward”, noting that it creates a clear route from early testing towards potential NIH-funded clinical development.