Russians Put $4 Million into U.S. Stem Cell Company

Cleveland BioLabs Inc., based in Buffalo, New York, has reached a $4 million deal with the Russian Federation to assist with the development of a drug to stimulate stem cell growth. The funding will assist preclinical and clinical studies of CBLB612, a drug designed to treat patients with radiation-induced bone-marrow stem-cell deficiencies. The deal is with the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and the contract, which is under the umbrella of Russia's "Pharma 2020" initiative, will provide three years of funding.

This contract enables us to continue our work with CBLB612, " said Yakov Kogan, CEO of Cleveland BioLabs in a July 30 news release. "We believe that our success in securing this type of highly competitive funding is driven by the strength of our science and development capabilities.

Preliminary tests have indicated that CBLB612 has the potential to induce hematopoietic stem-cell proliferation, which means that it might one day be used in bone-marrow transplantation. Bone-marrow transplants are performed on approximately 30, 000 patients in the United States each year.

Cleveland BioLabs Inc. was founded in partnership with the Cleveland Clinic in 2003. A biotechnology company, it is leveraging its proprietary discoveries around programmed cell death (apoptosis) to develop a pipeline of drugs for multiple medical and defense applications. The Cleveland Clinic retains a board seat on Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. as well as significant shareholding in the company which also has a strategic alliance with Roswell Park Cancer Institute, in Buffalo, New York. Other strategic alliances or partnerships include ChemBridge Corporation and the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute.