Theradaptive, a biopharmaceutical company using protein engineering to create targeted therapeutics, has been awarded a U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Clinical Trial Award of up to $7.4M with options, subject to FDA approval to begin phase I/II clinical studies.

Awarded through the DOD’s Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP), the award recognizes the scientific merit of Theradaptive’s work in targeted regenerative therapeutics to create safer and more efficacious treatments for patients with conditions such as spinal degenerative disc disease, orthopedic trauma, and craniomaxillofacial and dental repair.

The Clinical Trial Award is aimed at providing assistance to companies implementing clinical trials for biologics or medical devices focused on improving the patient outcomes of military service members and veterans. The award will help Theradaptive scale up the production of its OsteoAdapt regenerative therapeutic product for spine and trauma repair and will become clinically available upon initiation of first in human clinical trials in early 2024.

Theradaptive CEO and founder, Luis Alvarez, said, “The CDMRP Clinical Trial Award comes at a pivotal time for our company as we prepare for first in human clinical trials. Veterans and service members are disproportionally likely to suffer from traumatic extremity injuries or spinal degeneration and disc injury, and currently lack efficacious treatments with very few options. We have already demonstrated superior outcomes in preclinical studies, showing the promise of our technology.”

Alvarez added: “With this CTA award we are one step closer to providing new and improved therapies to patients and aligning with CDMRP’s strategic goal of trying to increase post-injury quality of life by halting or slowing orthopedic disease progression in servicemembers and veterans.”