Seattle-based biotech Omeros received a $6.7M grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to test the company’s cocaine treatment drug candidate OMS527 in rats and non-human primates.
The funding will be dispersed over three years and used to test for interactions and toxicology. Additionally, Omeros will test a placebo in adults with cocaine use disorder.
OMS527 modulates dopamine levels in the areas of the brain responsible for addiction and aims to help alcohol, nicotine and opioid addiction. Omeros completed Phase 1 of clinical trials and is eager to evaluate the effects of the drug on addiction disorders.