Inactive Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with a mission to catalyze the generation of innovative methods and technologies ... The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with a mission to catalyze the generation of innovative methods and technologies that will enhance the development, testing and implementation of diagnostics and therapeutics across a wide range of human diseases and conditions. Niclosamide is an old anthelminthic drug. Its potential as an anti-cancer and anti-viral agent has been demonstrated in numerous recent publications and clinical trials aiming to utilize its potential beyond its historic use of treating tapeworm infections in the gut. These studies have continually faced challenges in terms of oral absorption due to niclosamide’s poor solubility and permeability. NCATS has discovered niclosamide analogs with better solubility, permeability and microsomal stability, indicative of better in vivo exposures, but with similar potency in their ability to rescue the cytopathic effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection in cell-based studies. NCATS also invested efforts in discovering niclosamide prodrugs that have better solubility and permeability and are effectively metabolized to the active drug. One of these promising prodrugs will now be tested in an animal model of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The objective of this acquisition is to test NCATS’ prodrug in the Golden Syrian Hamster model, which has been identified as the species of choice for live virus SARS-CoV-2 efficacy studies. See attached Request for Quotions (RFQ) and accompanying attachments for complete requirement details.