Merakris lands $2.2M NIH grant to test wound biologic in diabetic foot ulcers
What's the deal? Merakris TherapeuticsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a North Carolina-based clinical-stage biotech, has won a $2.2 million Direct-to-Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney DiseasesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The two-year, non-dilutive award will fund a clinical trial of MTX-001, its lead biologic, in diabetic foot ulcers.
Why now? The Direct-to-Phase II structure lets Merakris skip a traditional Phase I SBIR study and move straight into a larger clinical program. The trial is planned as a randomized, placebo-controlled study, with both arms receiving standard debridement, off-loading, and wound management to isolate the added benefit of the biologic.
What's the endgame? MTX-001 is a locally injected biologic purified from cell-free amniotic fluid. It targets two aspects of chronic wound biology at once: dampening excessive inflammation and protease activity, and activating endogenous epithelial cells to support tissue regeneration. Most wound-care products offer passive coverage or hit a single pathway, so a dual-mechanism approach stands out — if it improves healing beyond standard care.
What else? The grant extends Merakris' pipeline beyond its ongoing Phase II venous leg ulcer program, which recently secured FDA Fast Track designation. That gives the company two clinical-stage indications in the multibillion-dollar chronic wound care market, where existing regenerative therapies have shown inconsistent results in controlled trials.
The signal: At roughly $2.2 million, the grant sits in the 22nd percentile by size — modest, but non-dilutive funding that validates Merakris' clinical strategy while preserving equity. It also reflects a financing path small biologics developers increasingly use to fund costly randomized trials, and sustained federal interest in chronic wound care as a translational research priority.
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
