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TUCSON - A small business grant will help an Arizona-based company develop a drug for Valley Fever.

Valley Fever Solutions Inc (VFS) has been awarded $3 million from the National Institutes for Health (NIH) to continue the commercialization of nikkomycin Z (NikZ), a potentially curative therapy for Valley Fever.

Starting this week, the funds will be administered over the next three-years by the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities, one of the institutes and centers of the NIH.

In the first year, the money will be used to improve the manufacturing process for NikZ. In years two and three, the newly manufactured drug will be given to patients with early Valley Fever infections to see how effective it is.

Of the 150,000 people in the United States each year who become infected with the Valley Fever fungus, about 50,000 develop a respiratory illness that is hard to distinguish from other causes of pneumonia. It typically lasts from many weeks to many months.

Two-thirds of all U.S. Valley Fever infections originate in Arizona, mostly from Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties (the so-called "Valley Fever Corridor").

Some patients have long-term, even lifelong disability that requires extensive medical treatment. According to Arizona Department of Health statistics, Valley Fever hospitalizations in 2007 cost Arizona $86 million. The disease also is very common and equally debilitating in companion animals. Current drugs available to treat Valley Fever patients are helpful but do not cure the infection.

NikZ had started to be developed in the 1990s but the development stalled because no pharmaceutical company was interested in continuing the project. In 2005, the Valley Fever Center for Excellence at the University of Arizona College of Medicine acquired the project, and since then has raised approximately $3 million in support from a variety of sources, including the NIH through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and philanthropic sources. This has allowed the reactivation of the project over the past five years. VFS also previously had been awarded a smaller grant for this project but existing funds and supplies of the NikZ drug stock were near depletion. With the $3 million grant starting this week the project now is able to continue.

"This new grant from the NIH is a real shot in the arm for the NikZ project," said John Galgiani, MD, director of the Valley Fever Center for Excellence and chief medical officer for VFS. "Not only will we now be able to continue the drug's development but the funds came from a very competitive scientific review, it's 'a pat on the back' to our approach."

Dr. Galgiani also noted the significance of having the award be administered through the NIH Center on Minority Health. "Since Valley Fever is most intense in the Southwest, many Native Americans would especially benefit from new treatments for Valley Fever. Also, other minorities, such as African Americans and Filipinos, are more likely to develop severe complications and they would also benefit from better therapies."