Vast Bioscience Pty Ltd

Vast Bioscience is developing 3D small molecule sodium channel inhibitors for the treatment of postsurgical pain.

Pain is a debilitating condition the treatment of which relies heavily on opioids. Opioid addiction has major health and socio-economic problems and linked to over 130 deaths per day in the USA.

Over 300 million surgical operations are performed worldwide per annum, with approximately 6% of these opioid treated patients becoming addicted. There is an urgent need to more effectively treat pain with non-addictive medications. The voltage-gated sodium channel, hNav1.8, is a genetically and clinically validated pain target offering real opportunities to solve the growing pain conundrum. 

Vast Bioscience have identified a novel class of hNav1.8 inhibitors that are three dimensional in shape and highly efficacious in animal models of postoperative pain at very low exposure. The goal of this project is to find the most suitable candidate for developing an effective non-opioid treatment of postsurgical pain through hNav1.8 inhibition with an excellent safety profile and with the robust data package suitable for commercialisation.


BTB Round: One

State: Queensland

Project Partners: Institute for Molecular Bioscience (UQ, Australia), Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation (Monash University, Australia), ADKL Labs (Australia), Sanoosa (Australia), Icagen Inc (USA) & Pharmaron Inc (USA, China)

Funding:

  • MTPConnect Grant: $936,702
  • Industry Contribution: $1,621,368

Duration: February 2020 – December 2021


Visit Vast Bioscience to find out more.

Contact: Dr Wim Meutermans, Chief Scientific Officer and Elka Palant, Senior Project Manager, Vast Bioscience