News Events
October 29, 2010
Escape awarded $0.25M grant under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project program.
Escape awarded $0.25M grant under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project program. (1st line link) Escape Therapeutics received notification from the Department of Treasury that it was successful in its application for the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) program. Under this award, Escape will receive a $0.25M grant, 50% of the certified amount of qualified investment as per section 48D of the Internal Revenue Code. Escape plans to use the grant to advance the development of its lead product candidate, PluraStem™, a universal stem cell for allogeneic cell therapy applications."This grant serves as recognition of PluraStem's potential as a new therapy to treat areas of unmet medical needs for numerous diseases that require cell replacement," said Basil M. Hantash, MD, PhD, chairman & chief executive officer of Escape Therapeutics. "We plan to use the proceeds from the grant to support our ongoing preclinical technology development objectives, which are aimed at creating the world's first universal pluripotent stem cell source capable of being transplanted into patients of any HLA type without the need for adjunctive immunosuppression, HLA matching, or autologous sourcing." The QTDP was created by Congress in March 2010 as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Eligibility for the grant requires that a project have the potential to develop new treatments that address unmet medical needs or chronic and acute diseases, reduce long-term health care costs or represent a significant advance in finding a cure for cancer.
