Novomedix, a San Diego-based for-profit company, has received a $2.98 million SBIR Phase II contract from the National Cancer Institute to advance a first-in-class oral small molecule toward an investigational new drug application for high-risk pediatric solid tumors. The two-year award (September 2025 through September 2027) follows Phase I work focused on rhabdomyosarcoma and will expand the target patient population to include other sarcomas and blastomas, with the aim of shortening clinical trial accrual timelines.
The project centers on completing IND-enabling studies and identifying combination regimens suitable for pediatric use, reflecting a practical constraint in pediatric oncology where clinicians are reluctant to administer new agents as monotherapy. The grant also supports preclinical work across in vitro and in vivo cancer models. No principal investigator was identified in the available grant record.
The award is among the larger NCI small business innovation research funding commitments in fiscal year 2025 and signals continued federal investment in rare pediatric cancer drug development, an area where commercial incentives alone have historically been insufficient to sustain early-stage programs.
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