Capital Region NIH R&D awards up 15%
The amount of research funding awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to Capital Region firms, institutions and nonprofits increased by an inflation-adjusted 15 percent in fiscal year 2024. The influx of federal life sciences R&D funding was driven, in part, by strong gains at Albany Medical College and Curia Global, according to a Center for Economic Growth (CEG) analysis of data from the NIH’s Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT).
In fiscal year 2024, the NIH awarded 143 research grants in the eight-county Capital Region, totaling $68.9 million in current dollars. When taking inflation into account (2017 chained dollars), that represented a 15 percent increase over the previous year.
Albany Medical College received 30 research awards totaling $13.2 million – the largest award total in the region and up over the year by 7.2 percent when taking inflation into account. The next largest awardees in the Capital Region were the University at Albany ($11 million), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ($9.4 million), Curia Global ($6.7 million), and GE Medical Systems Information Technologies ($6.4 million).
Research on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases continued to drive NIH funding growth in the region. In fiscal 2024, Capital Region institutions and firms received $12.6 million in awards with “Alzheimer’s” or “Parkinson’s” project tags. Those projects included:
University at Albany: DNA nanostructures as siRNA delivery vehicles for Alzheimer’s therapy
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Reduced Alzheimer’s disease progression and neutrophil adhesion via competition using neutrophil-derived or engineered nanoparticles
Albany Research Institute: Brain-computer interface-based identification of color vision deficiencies related to Parkinson’s Disease
Nanopharmaceuticals, an emerging, clinical stage pharmaceutical company in East Greenbush, received its first NIH award. It received $792,367 from the National Cancer Institute for research on a drug (BG-P-TAT) that could potentially treat neuroblastomas and other neuroendocrine cancers. The goal of this research project is to “to confirm in vitro and in vivo efficacy in NB cells and tumors following scaled up manufacturing of non-GMP drug material.” The NCI project’s principal investigator is Paul Davis, Nanopharmaceuticals’ executive vice president and chief scientific officer as well as professor of medicine at Albany Medical College and an adjunct professor of pharmacy at the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
Over the last decade, 21 patents have been assigned to Nanopharmaceuticals. The firm is currently recruiting for its first phase I clinical trial at the Yale Cancer Center, for another drug (fb-PMT) that could potentially treat malignant brain tumors called glioblastomas, according to ClinicalTrials.gov. Nanopharmaceuticals also plans to test the drug against other solid tumors (pancreatic cancer) and hematological malignancies (AML) in a phase II clinical trial. The phase I trial is scheduled for completion in October 2025, according to ClinicalTrials.gov.
Other domestic for-profit firms in the region that received NIH awards included:
GE Medical Systems Information Technologies, Niskayuna: $6,434,212
Kitware, Halfmoon: $1,790,458
Vascular Visions Pharmaceuticals, Wynantskill: $1,381,504
Applied Biophysics, Troy: $947,705
StemCultures, Rensselaer: $826,379
Institute for Clinical Pharmacodynamics, Schenectady: $2,500
CEG INITIATIVES
CEG is supporting the growth of the region’s life sciences cluster by leading the following initiatives:
Marketing the Capital Region’s life sciences R&D assets at talent pipeline.
Improving businesses’ access to labs at facilities, such as those at the University at Albany, NY Creates’ Albany Nanotech Complex, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and others affiliated with Innovate 518, a University at Albany-led collaborative effort of Capital Region incubators, accelerators, and entrepreneurial service providers.
Helping biotech firms, such as Vital Vio and Precision Valve & Automation grow through its Business Growth Solutions services, including continuous improvement, technology acceleration, energy and sustainability, supply chain development and workforce initiatives.
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