# Small molecule enhancers of detrusor contraction discovered using a functional cell contractility screen as therapeutic candidates for underactive bladder

> **NIH NIH R43** · FORCYTE BIOTECHNOLOGIES, INC. · 2022 · $41,550

## Abstract

Underactive bladder (UAB) / detrusor underactivity (DU), is a chronic disorder arising from
impaired contractile function of the bladder in its strength and/or duration, causing prolonged
bladder voiding or inability to achieve complete voiding of the bladder at normal time scales.
Without treatment, increased urinary retention and back-up will lead to severe and irreversible
bladder damage and chronic kidney disease. No available oral medication used in the UAB is
completely effective and catherization is often the standard recommendation for managing
urinary retention resulting from UAB, even in pediatric patients with idiopathic UAB. This
requires the patient either to carry an indwelling catheter and external collection device or more
commonly, to self-catheterize four and six times daily, a involving manually guiding a catheter
through one’s urethra to the bladder. Forcyte performed the first ever high-throughput screen
on bladder cell contractility of 11500 small molecules, identifying two promising hit clusters. In
addition to the parent grant aims around phenotypic small molecule discovery, this ADMIN
SUPPLEMENT will train a candidate from an underrepresented group in both research and
commercialization tasks at Forcyte. In particular, the candidate will aide the company’s
commercial expansion into target discovery by working with an expert Sr. Scientist to develop
CRISPR techniques for “gain-of-contractile-function” screening.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10565844
- **Project number:** 3R43DK129187-01A1S1
- **Recipient organization:** FORCYTE BIOTECHNOLOGIES, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Ivan Pushkarsky
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $41,550
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-02-07 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10565844

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10565844, Small molecule enhancers of detrusor contraction discovered using a functional cell contractility screen as therapeutic candidates for underactive bladder (3R43DK129187-01A1S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10565844. Licensed CC0.

---

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