Sparian Biosciences, a clinical-stage CNS-focused biopharmaceutical company, announced the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical trial for SBS-147, its next-generation arylepoxamide receptor agonist designed for the treatment of acute and chronic pain.
The trial will evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of SBS-147 in healthy volunteers through a combined single ascending dose and multiple ascending dose study. The drug is being developed as an oral therapy, offering dosing flexibility compared to earlier compounds in the same class.
SBS-147 builds on Sparian’s first-generation AEAr agonist, SBS-1000, which previously completed a Phase 1 single ascending dose study as a parenteral therapy and remains in development for acute pain.
In preclinical studies, SBS-147 demonstrated potent analgesic effects across nociceptive and neuropathic pain models, with durable responses lasting up to 24 hours. The company noted that the compound does not produce respiratory depression or exhibit abuse liability, distinguishing it from opioid-based treatments such as morphine.
The development of SBS-147 from Phase 1 through Phase 2 is being supported by a $15 million grant from the National Institutes of Health through the National Institute on Drug Abuse under the HEAL Initiative. The funding marks Sparian’s fifth NIH/NIDA grant and brings its total government funding to approximately $75 million across multiple programs targeting pain and substance use disorders.
The HEAL Initiative, established by Congress, aims to accelerate the development of treatments for opioid addiction and other substance use disorders, as well as to advance safer, non-addictive pain therapies.
Sparian Biosciences was co-founded by Jeffrey B. Reich, MD, and Gavril Pasternak, MD/PhD, and was spun out of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The company is advancing a pipeline of therapies addressing acute and chronic pain, opioid use disorder, opioid withdrawal, acute opioid overdose, and stimulant use disorder.
KEY QUOTES:
“SBS-147 builds on the success of the first generation AEAr agonist, SBS-1000. The added dosing flexibility as an oral compound expands potential indications to include acute and chronic pain.”
Jeffrey B. Reich, MD, Chief Executive Officer, Sparian Biosciences
“Effective pain management remains a significant challenge across medicine and surgery, and SBS-147 has the potential to replace opioids for the treatment of acute and chronic pain. In the face of the ongoing opioid crisis, we believe the AEAr agonists like SBS-147 and SBS-1000 could represent fundamental and critically needed innovation. We have been eager to get back into the clinic with the next generation AEAr agonist, one with oral dosing, and we hope that the promising preclinical profile of SBS-147 will translate to human studies.”
Jeffrey B. Reich, MD, Chief Executive Officer, Sparian Biosciences
