BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., has announced the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has exercised additional options to conduct phase I clinical human safety trials of an intramuscular formulation of BCX4430.

These options represent an additional $4.1 million to BioCryst to advance the development of BCX4430 as a treatment for hemorrhagic fever viruses. NIAID, part of the NIH, granted a contract to BioCryst in September 2013 valued up to $22 million over five years, if all contract options are exercised. With these two additional options, approximately $13.5 million of funding has been awarded to date under the contract.

"The ongoing Ebola epidemic in West Africa emphasizes the urgent need for safe and effective antiviral agents for hemorrhagic fever virus diseases. With these additional funds, BioCryst can move forward with non-human primate efficacy studies, an IND filing and phase I human trials of intramuscular BCX4430," said Dr. William P. Sheridan, chief medical officer at BioCryst.

This project will be funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the NIAID, NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services.