Cayman Receives Grant to Evaluate Use of KMN-159 to Accelerate Dental Implant Osseointegration
ANN ARBOR, MI, September 16, 2021 — The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research has awarded Cayman Chemical with a $1,700,500 grant to explore Cayman’s patented small molecule bone repair agent KMN-159 as the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in a drug-device combination to improve the mechanical anchorage of dental titanium implants into the jawbone. The studies proposed in this grant aim to address several clinical challenges for dental implant therapy, especially in patients with low bone density conditions such as osteoporosis.
“Our goal is to offer dentists a novel, effective, safe, economical, and easy-to-use drug-device that will increase the rate of dental implant osseointegration as well as the strength of the bone-implant interface,” said Dr. Inés Morano, Senior Director of Discovery R&D at Cayman, a principal investigator on the grant. “This stable, prepackaged, ready-to-use, flexible, and easily-fitted osseointegration accelerant would augment the bone’s natural repair process, facilitating earlier implant loading and decreasing the number of implant failures.”
“Over the course of this study, we will investigate the effects of KMN-159, an EP4 receptor agonist, in combination with a collagen hydrogel for its ability to promote osseointegration in 2D and 3D in vitro systems and in vivo in a rat experimental alveolar ridge bone defect model,” said Dr. Thomas Owen, a Senior Drug Discovery Scientist at Cayman and co-principal investigator on the grant. “Once an efficacious formulation dose of KMN-159 is established, it will be prepared under GMP conditions and formulated in Helistat absorbable collagen sponges for testing efficacy and safety in a GLP rabbit implant model accepted by the FDA.”
The grant includes a subaward to Cayman’s co-investigator Dr. Qiming Jin, a Clinical Associate Professor of Dentistry at the University of Michigan, whose research is focused on bone biology, dental implant osseointegration, and periodontal tissue engineering using cell therapy and growth factor gene therapy approaches.
About Cayman Chemical
Cayman Chemical Company helps make research possible by supplying scientists worldwide with biochemical tools used to understand cancer, neurochemistry, oxidative injury, endocrinology, atherosclerosis, and other human health challenges. Our scientists are experts in the synthesis, purification, and characterization of biochemicals ranging from small drug-like heterocycles to complex biolipids, fatty acids, and many others for use as research reagents and qualified standards. We are also highly skilled in all aspects of assay and antibody development, protein expression, crystallization, and structure determination. In addition, we offer a wide range of analytical services using LC-MS/MS, HPLC, GC, and many other techniques. Cayman performs generic drug development and production in both Ann Arbor, Michigan and Neratovice, Czech Republic.