Lead University: Lehigh University
PI: Neal G. Simon
Effective therapeutics for moderate-to-severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) remains a major unmet medical need. In the United States alone, an estimated 1.7 million people sustain a Traumatic Brain Injury each year. Massive costs are associated with these injuries—52,000 deaths, 275,000 hospitalizations, and some 1.4 million individuals treated and released from emergency departments, with an annual economic burden estimated at $76.5 billion.TBI is a contributing factor to a third of all injury-related deaths in the United States. And among military personnel, there are over 30,000 medically diagnosed cases of TBI annually. In the proposed project, a collaborative effort between Lehigh University and Azevan Pharmaceuticals, experiments will be conducted to determine the feasibility of new therapeutic approaches to the treatment of this serious medical condition. With positive results, the project is expected to generate additional sources of funding that will support continued collaboration directed toward addressing these significant public health needs.