NIH Awards $13.8 Million to Test UAMS-Discovered Drug for Methamphetamine Use Disorder Treatment

By David Robinson

LITTLE ROCK — A drug discovered at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) to counter the effects of methamphetamine will be tested in a phase 2 clinical trial as the only potential treatment of its kind for methamphetamine use disorder.

The study is led by UAMS startup biopharmaceutical company InterveXion Therapeutics LLC and is funded by a three-year, $13.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

The drug, IXT-m200, could be the first monoclonal antibody treatment for methamphetamine use disorder and overdose. It received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Fast Track Designation in 2016 for treatment of methamphetamine use disorder. FDA Fast Track Designation facilitates the development and speeds the review of drugs to treat serious conditions and fill an unmet medical need.

UAMS’ Brooks Gentry, M.D., is leading the study of what could become the first monoclonal antibody treatment for methamphetamine use disorder and overdose.