Sidero Bioscience, a specialty biotechnology company advancing disruptive technologies targeting human digestive health, has been awarded a grant by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). The $225,000 Phase I STTR grant, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania State University, will support a clinical trial of BioFe in people with iron deficiency.

"We are delighted to be selected by the NIH to support the clinical development goals for our first product candidate, BioFeTM medical food for the management of iron deficiency," says Darren Wolfe, President & CEO of Sidero. "Securing this new dedicated funding source allows Sidero to advance human clinical testing and accelerate BioFe development."

The NIH commented on BioFe, stating, "The committee appreciated the profound potential impact of the proposed work, considered ‘game-changing’, on the treatment of anemia in children."

The World Health Organization claims, "Iron deficiency is the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world. The numbers are staggering: 2 billion people – over 30% of the world’s population...". The most common symptom of iron deficiency is Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA). IDA impedes motor and mental development in children leading to lifelong cognitive deficiencies and causes fatigue, reduced work capacity, and reduced quality of life in adults. Iron deficiency without anemia is also linked to restless leg syndrome (RLS), hearing deficits, reduced athletic performance, and heart failure morbidity among others.

While oral iron supplements can be both effective and inexpensive, they suffer from substantial gastrointestinal side effects reducing compliance by up to 50%. Alternatively, intravenous iron can also be effective for iron supplementation but requires frequent transfusions and is expensive leading to both patient and payor dissatisfaction. The market for IV-Iron alone is expected to reach $1.8 Billion by 2020.

James Connor, Chairman of the Board of Sidero and co-inventor of the SiderosorbTM Medical Food technology platform, states, "The dedicated mission of Sidero is to provide a safe, effective, and economical remedy for iron deficiency for all peoples of the world."

Sidero is advancing the patented SiderosorbTM Medical Food technology platform utilizing nutritional Baker’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, to provide therapeutic proteins/complexes as food for consumption to improve human health. Medical foods have a simplified and streamlined regulatory pathway allowing rapid and low-cost development, significantly accelerating market access. BioFe is nutritional yeast expressing high levels of the Ferritin protein, FTH1, that is a natural iron transport and storage protein normally produced at low levels by almost all living organisms. An illustrative example of the natural biology of the Ferritin/Iron complex is its presence in human breast milk, providing nursing infants the readily adsorbed iron required for rapid learning and development without gastrointestinal upset.

Visit www.SideroBio.com for additional information.