CompleGen has received a Phase I NIH Small Business Innovation Research grant of approximately $300,000 to apply its XenoGene System to the discovery of new anti-trypanosomal drugs. The XenoGene System is used to isolate genes from any organism so that they function in; and support the growth of specially engineered yeast. These XenoGene yeast are then used in High Throughput Screens (HTS) of chemical compounds to find those that act specifically on a given target protein and inhibit the growth of the cognate yeast strain. Using the patented XenoGene System, scientists at CompleGen will isolate new drug targets from the closely related parasites Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania spp. and use them to screen synthetic and natural product libraries. The XenoGene system is being used by CompleGen's clients to discover human therapeutics and agchem products.

T. cruzi and Leishmania together account for over 50 million human infections worldwide with approximately five hundred million persons at risk for infection. In the absence of effective vaccines, pharmacological intervention remains the only means of combating the diseases and their associated morbidity and mortality. However, few effective trypanocidal drugs exist, and those that do have serious side effects and are becoming less effective as drug resistance increases.

Dr. John Swindle, Chief Scientific Officer at CompleGen, stated, "This award will enable CompleGen to apply our drug discovery system to these overlooked diseases. T. cruzi and Leishmania are both medically and economically important; however, they have been notoriously resistant to effective drug development. CompleGen's XenoGene technology allows us to identify similar drug targets from the genome of both parasites and subject the targets to modern high throughput drug screening to discover broad spectrum anti-trypanosomal therapeutics. We expect to have identified drug targets within six months and initiate drug screening soon thereafter."