BioLink awarded SBIR grant to aid patients needing TPN

BioLink Life Sciences, Inc. of Cary, NC announced funding of a Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant award by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH grant will support BioLink's initial development of a novel iron supplement for TPN (total parenteral nutrition) formulations. "Receipt of an NIH award puts us in the top 10 percent of small companies developing novel health care products," noted Dr. Deanna Nelson, BioLink's President. "This SBIR grant validates our unique approach to improving the care and quality of life of all Americans."

Today, about 40,000 people in the United States rely on TPN for sustenance and survival. TPN users include those with cancer, gastrointestinal diseases, major body burns, extensive wounds, and AIDS. The majority of these patients are anemic because they cannot take oral iron supplements and none of the currently marketed TPN formulations contain iron, primarily due to the toxicity of most intravenous iron supplements.

In their SBIR proposal, BioLink described a novel iron supplement for TPN formulations using ferric pyrophosphate (FePPi), the most stable and least toxic of iron salts. FePPi promotes iron transfer to cellular systems within the body, without releasing toxic free iron and causing oxidative stress. Under BioLink's current proposal, the effects of FePPi on the physicochemical stability of the TPN formulation will be evaluated. This is a key step towards development of a commercial product for safe, intravenous iron delivery for the prevention and/or treatment of iron deficiency in TPN patients.

This is the second SBIR grant awarded to BioLink in 2005. Earlier this year, BioLink announced the award of a SBIR Grant from the USDA for the development of novel PRO-Dyes®. These on-carcinogenic dyes will be used in a state-of-the-art system that can detect contamination in meat packing plants.

BioLink is a North Carolina biotech company that is developing innovative products to enhance the safety of foods, drugs and diagnostics. In addition to the above activities, BioLink focuses on the development of "repaired" drugs having better safety profiles. Registered "blockbuster" drugs that have significant bioavailability problems, such as poor uptake or rapid degradation in the body, may be modified to improve delivery or bioavailability. By retaining the therapeutic activity of the parent drug, and minimizing its side effects through modification to a "repaired" drug, the time and cost of development and FDA approval may be significantly reduced. BioLink has filed several patents relating to its technologies, and has begun to work with pharmaceutical partners towards commercialization, marketing and distribution its products. To learn more about BioLink, call 919-678-9478, e-mail them at info@biolinkonline.com, or visit the company's website at http://www.biolinkonline.com.