A cardiac arrest, when the heart suddenly stops beating, causes loss of consciousness and death if untreated after several minutes. Patients who are revived from cardiac arrest can suffer from brain injury due to lack of blood flow to the brain during the event. Therapeutic hypothermia, in which a patients body temperature is lowered, can help prevent brain injury after cardiac arrest. The collaborators developed HBN-1 as a simple and effective approach to induce therapeutic hypothermia. HBN-1 causes hypothermia by affecting the hypothalamus, the brain region that controls body temperature. The BrIDGs completed the following studies for HBN-1: - Formulation development - Pharmacokinetic/absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (PK/ADME) studies - Manufacture of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) drug product - Investigational New Drug (IND)-directed toxicology As a result of BrIDGs support, the lead collaborator was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate clinical trials.
