Synedgen Announces $1 Million Award from Defense Health Agency to Develop SynePure and Catasyn

Synedgen, a biotechnology company using glycochemistry to develop drugs that enhance and mimic the innate immune system, today announced a combined $1 million award from the Defense Health Agency (DHA) Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR), along with additional research funds from the DHA, to commercialize its products, SynePuretm Wound Cleanser (SynePure) and Catasyntm Advanced Technology Wound Hydrogel (Catasyn), developed under DHA SBIR award W81XWH-16-C-0023, and to perform a randomized clinical trial comparing them to the current standard of care in patients with partial thickness (2nd degree) burns. Synedgen has chosen the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Mercy Trauma and Burn Center as its subcontractor for the clinical program.

"Bringing these products to patients is the realization of Synedgen's commitment to finding solutions for intractable and unmet needs in infection, inflammation and healing," said William Wiesmann, MD, Executive Chairman of Synedgen's Board. "Both military and civilian burns are typically chronically infected and inflamed, often leading to disfiguring scars. This funding allows us to quickly advance our products into patients, where we anticipate increased healing rates with reduced fibrosis, even in wounds with multi-drug resistant bacteria. We would like to formally thank our sponsors at the DHA for their assistance to date."

Development of SynePure and Catasyn has been funded by the DHA as well as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) SBIR Program. Both products are Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) cleared medical devices formulated with glycopolymers from Synedgen's platform.

Additionally, Synedgen today announced a presentation to be given at the 9^th Department of Defense State-of-the-Science Meeting on Blast Injury Research. The meeting is co-sponsored by the RAND Corporation and the Department of Defense (DoD) Blast Injury Research Coordinating Office (BIRCO) and titled "Mitigating the Impact of Blast-related Burn Injuries: From Prolonged Field Care to Rehabilitation and Resilience", will take place in Arlington, Virginia, on March 3-5, 2020.

Kaveri Parker, Ph.D., Synedgen's Chief Business Officer, will give an oral presentation detailing the company's solutions for polytraumatic combat injuries resulting from explosive device detonation, the management of which poses unique patient- and field-management challenges. Synedgen has developed SynePure and Catasyn to provide a burn injury treatment portfolio capable of managing these care considerations. SynePure has been optimized for the cleansing of wounds and thermal injuries, while Catasyn serves as a protective gel dressing.

About Synedgen

Synedgen is a biotechnology company using glycochemistry to develop drugs that enhance and mimic the innate immune system. The company's lead development candidate is SYGN305 for gastrointestinal mucositis, where a large unmet need exists to prevent intestinal radiation injury, the single most important dose-limiting factor in cancer radiotherapy. Synedgen's glycochemistry platform has already generated five FDA 510(k)-cleared therapeutics, one OTC drug, one veterinary indexed drug, and an out-licensed Phase 2 program, to Synspira, for the potential treatment of pulmonary complications of cystic fibrosis. Synedgen has research and manufacturing facilities in Claremont, California. For more information please visit www.synedgen.com.