Amphix Bio, a US-based company developing a new class of regenerative medicine therapies, announced on Thursday that it has received a USD1m Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The funds will support the scaling up of manufacturing methods for Amphix Bio's platform technology. The platform is based on supramolecular peptide therapeutics, which signals the patient's own cells to initiate regenerative processes.

Manufacturing technology developed with the grant funds will be used to produce an off-the-shelf implant for spinal fusion surgeries. This product was recently designated as a Breakthrough Device by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating back pain caused by degenerative disc disease. The goals of the Phase II project are to scale up production of the company's therapeutic peptides, develop new manufacturing methods for the putty formulation, and complete biocompatibility testing.

Amphix Bio co-founder and CEO Nick Sather, PhD, said: "We are grateful to the NSF for this Phase II funding and are excited to advance our manufacturing capabilities to bring the supramolecular therapeutics platform into the clinic. Our technology can offer a simpler and safer solution for treating debilitating back pain, without the side effects associated with harvesting autograft tissue or using recombinant proteins to induce bone growth."