Trone, Sherrill Announce $2.5 Million HHS Grant Coming to Tonix Pharmaceuticals for Drug Overdose Treatment Research
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 26, 2022
Contact: Sasha Galbreath, Sasha.Galbreath@mail.house.gov
Trone, Sherrill Announce $2.5 Million HHS Grant Coming to Tonix Pharmaceuticals for Drug Overdose Treatment Research
FREDERICK, MD — Representatives David Trone (MD-06) and Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) announced today that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will award Tonix Pharmaceuticals $2.5 million through a federal National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) grant to expand their research into TNX-1300 as a lifesaving treatment for a cocaine overdose. Tonix’s corporate headquarters reside in Chatham, New Jersey, and its R&D facility is located in Frederick, Maryland.
“This grant award underscores the unmet need for safe and effective treatments for cocaine intoxication and validates the progress we achieved to date with TNX-1300,” said Seth Lederman, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Tonix Pharmaceuticals. “Cocaine overdose remains a serious issue in the U.S. where there is currently no specific pharmacotherapy indicated treatments. By targeting the cause rather than the symptoms of cocaine intoxication, we believe TNX-1300 may offer significant advantages to the current standard of care for a cocaine overdose.”
“Tonix has been an incredible partner and job creator in Maryland, and I commend its team’s efforts in fighting against the substance use disorder crisis that our nation continues to face. With over 100,000 Americans killed by drug overdoses just last year, we need to work together to curb the loss and set our sights on prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery,” said Rep. Trone, who attended Tonix’s ribbon-cutting in Frederick in October. “That starts with medical innovation in our own communities and reliable investment in our country’s brightest leaders. This funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse will do just that.”
“The research Tonix is pursuing is a bright light in our shared goal of reducing overdose deaths and harm as we continue to battle the crisis in substance use disorders in New Jersey and across the country, which has only been compounded by the pandemic. This targeted treatment could bring down healthcare costs and, most importantly, loss of life due to cocaine overdose,” said Rep. Sherrill. “With this federal grant, Tonix will be able to move one step closer to FDA authorization and getting this potentially life-saving treatment into the hands of emergency room doctors and nurses, as well as EMS and other first responders. I am proud to have Tonix’s headquarters based here in NJ-11.”
During their first terms in office, Reps. Trone and Sherrill formed the Freshmen Working Group on Addiction, a bipartisan effort to promote policies to end the addiction crisis. They were instrumental in securing critical funding for State Opioid Response Grants and Tribal Opioid Response Grants to help states to reduce overdose-related deaths through prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts.
Later, Trone merged the Freshman Working Group with another bipartisan group to form the Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force, which he currently co-chairs.
Tonix Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, licensing, acquiring, and developing therapeutics to treat and prevent human disease and alleviate suffering.
Congressman David Trone was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018 to serve the 6th District of Maryland, which includes all or part of Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties. Trone serves on the Appropriations, Veterans’ Affairs, and Joint Economic Committees. In Congress, Trone is fighting to make progress on issues that matter to Marylanders, including the mental health and addiction crises, criminal justice reform, and funding for medical research.
Follow Congressman Trone at @RepDavidTrone for updates on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
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