# Myocardial Delivery of MMP Inhibiting Hydrogels

> **NIH NIH R44** · PROHIBIX, LLC · 2020 · $954,900

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
 Over 3 million people in the United States currently suffer from heart failure caused by a
myocardial infarction (MI) and more than 600,000 survivable MIs occur each year, including 200,000
ST-segment Elevated MIs (STEMIs). STEMIs are a severe MI caused by a prolonged period of
blocked blood supply that affects a large area of the heart muscle. Re-hospitalization rates remain
high for STEMI patients and within 5 years approximately 50% of STEMI patients will die. Despite
improvements in door-to-balloon times to reperfuse the infarct, an adverse left ventricular (LV)
remodeling process occurs post MI that leads to maladaptive changes to the structure and function of
the LV. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a class of tissue degrading enzymes that contribute to
LV wall thinning, expansion and ultimately LV dysfunction. While systemic administration of MMP
inhibitors has shown promising results in preserving LV structure and function, dose-limiting side
effects of the drugs have stalled clinical translation.
 To avoid off-target effects of promising therapeutics such as MMPIs and deliver effective
concentrations locally to the infarct, Prohibix LLC and investigators at the University of Pennsylvania
have invented a breakthrough injectable hydrogel technology to encapsulate and deliver these
molecules through a clinically adopted, epicardial access procedure. This innovative hydrogel
system, EPICARGO, was successfully delivered to a target region of the myocardium in pigs without
complications and localized the release of a fluorescent dye in Phase I studies. In addition, a novel
gel formulation containing the FDA approved MMPI, doxycycline, was developed with ideal
bioresponsive release kinetics. This Phase II proposal by Prohibix LLC seeks to further validate the
safety and stability of EPICARGO gels in pigs, and demonstrate efficacy of localized doxycycline
delivery compared to oral dosing of the drug. Successful completion of the proposed Aims will further
validate this platform technology in order to attract life science investors and industry partners to fund
development through first-in-man trials.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9909601
- **Project number:** 2R44HL140645-02
- **Recipient organization:** PROHIBIX, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Brendan Purcell
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $954,900
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2020-07-15 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9909601

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9909601, Myocardial Delivery of MMP Inhibiting Hydrogels (2R44HL140645-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9909601. Licensed CC0.

---

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