The University of Montana has picked up a $1.5 million federal grant to support the development of low-dose methamphetamine as a treatment to limit the damage caused by traumatic brain injuries.
The Department of Defense grant was given to David Poulsen, a researcher in UM's Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
"This grant will help us optimize the dosing regimen and determine the maximum window the drug can be therapeutically applied," Poulsen said.
His research has demonstrated that rats suffering severe traumatic brain injuries show behavioral, cognitive and neuromotor problems 30 days after the injury. However, injured rats treated with low-dose methamphetamine experience profound improvements.
Poulsen's lab has discovered that low-dose methamphetamine administered to rodents soon after strokes or traumatic brain injuries reduces brain damage affecting normal behavior, learning and memory.
He said the military seeks a drug that can be administered to soldiers exposed to blast-force energy waves from explosions such as those experienced in warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan. Such therapies would be applied within hours of exposure to a significant blast.
"This is primarily coming from the Air Force - especially the Air Force Special Operations Command," Poulsen said. "They envision a drug available for special forces personnel who are forward deployed in areas where medical attention may be hours or days away."
Military planners hope to develop a drug that lessens the incidence of complications associated with brain injury such as learning and memory deficits, neuromotor impairment or epilepsy. Poulsen said military personnel who suffer traumatic brain injuries develop seizures at 20 times the rate of the civilian population.
Poulsen and his partners formed a UM spin-off company in 2009 called Sinapis Pharma Inc., which intends to bring the low-dose methamphetamine product to the marketplace.
The company has successfully completed Phase I clinical trials on human subjects and expects a Phase II trial to commence in 2011.
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