# Splice modulatory therapy for valley fever

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2020 · $236,250

## Abstract

7. Project Summary.
Over the last five years, the incidence of coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever) has been increasing at a
remarkable rate, making it a common cause of community-acquired pneumonia in the United States. While
largely under-diagnosed, the treatment of moderate to severe cases currently involves application of
amphotericin B or azole antifungals such as fluconazole, two drugs with indications complicated by severe
side-effects and drug interactions. Without other options, patients are often left untreated and with a poor
clinical prognosis. This is further complicated by the fact that many of the leads identified to combat
coccidioidomycosis to date target established antifungal targets, without consideration of the efficacy of
targeting these pathways in their fungal hosts. Over the last decade, our team has focused on the development
of small molecule modulators of human splicing. We have learned how the unique interplay between systems-
wide and mechanism-based understanding plays a key role in developing viable therapeutic leads for
oncogenic diseases. This program explores the translation splice modulators as next-generation treatments for
coccidioidomycosis by uniting medicinal chemical optimization efforts with gene and transcriptome-wide tools.
This high-risk / high-reward program unites chemical biology with an active program in medicinal chemistry to
evaluate, test and validate the spliceosome-targeting small molecules for the treatment of severe
coccidioidomycosis.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10042570
- **Project number:** 1R21AI154106-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael D. Burkart
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $236,250
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-06-01 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10042570

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10042570, Splice modulatory therapy for valley fever (1R21AI154106-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10042570. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*