Biopharmaceutical company Symberix reported on Thursday the receipt of three Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants under a NIH's Research Collaboration Agreement as well as a USD250,000 Small Business Research Loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

The company said the three SBIR grants, valued at USD2.9m, are awarded by the NIH's National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Additionally, the Research Collaboration Agreement with NIH's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is for in-kind collaborative research activities and access to scientific expertise. The funds will be used for high-throughput screening, identification of new chemotypes and a clinical candidate and IND-enabling studies for the clinical candidate.

In addition, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center loan will validate the pioneering approach of pharmaceutical control of the microbiome. The company is focused on developing the first generation of gut microbiome-targeting drugs to treat lower GI disorders. Gut microbes express numerous proteins, including a family of bacterial b-glucuronidase enzymes, capable of generating toxic metabolites of many common medications in the lower GI tract.