May 1, 2023 – Olfax Medical has been selected to receive a Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) Technology / Therapeutic Development Award, which will provide $5.6M in funding from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) of the US Department of Defense.
The award will support pre-clinical development of Olfax Medical’s rapid, intra-nasal treatment for headache disorders and directly addresses the PRMRP’s strategic focus area of non-opioid therapy for pain management. Olfax Medical’s CEO, Jonathan Beckwith, is the Principal Investigator for the project.
“We are very grateful to the Department of Defense for their resounding support of Olfax’s mission to provide life-changing control over neurological conditions,” said Mr. Beckwith. “Through this award, we aim to address a critical near-term need for military Service Members, Veterans, and civilians seeking relief from headache disorders. Additionally, this development has the potential to revolutionize the way drugs are administered nasally, which will have a profound effect on both the efficacy and safety of existing and future medications.”
The prevalence of headache disorders in active-duty US Armed Forces members has steadily increased year over year, and The Department of Veterans Affairs has reported that veterans are more likely to experience migraine and headaches than the general US population. In addition to increased exposure to stressful combat situations, servicemen and women have higher rates of traumatic brain injury and neck trauma, which are often followed by post-traumatic headache.
“Headache disorders have been described as an invisible epidemic that often leaves patients to suffer in silence,” said Dr. Jason Cook, Chief Medical Officer of Olfax Medical. “For Service Members, migraine can take an immense toll on physical and emotional health, lead to missed or suboptimal training, and can reduce their return to duty rates. For Veterans, headache disorders have been directly linked to a high prevalence of medication overuse, and the debilitating symptoms can have a broad-sweeping impact on quality of life.”
The PRMRP award builds upon significant federal, state, and local support previously secured by Olfax Medical to help meet the needs of people with headache disorders. This includes funding and services provided by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, North Carolina Department of Commerce, North Carolina Biotechnology Center, DRIVEN Accelerator Hub, and Venture Asheville.
About Olfax Medical
Olfax Medical is a start-up product development and commercialization company specializing in nasally administered therapeutics. Our mission is to help patients avoid the harmful and addictive side effects of systemic pharmaceuticals by revolutionizing nasal drug delivery. Founded in 2017, our experienced team of engineers, clinical care specialists, and clinical researchers are creating novel, self-administered therapeutic treatments that utilize the nerve networks of the olfactory and trigeminal nerves, to absorb neurologically active medications directly from the nose to the brain, bypassing the blood-brain barrier. Further information about Olfax Medical is available at www.olfaxmedical.com.
Disclaimer
Research described in this publication is sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, through the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program under Award Number HT94252310280. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Department of Defense.