Daré Bioscience (NASDAQ:DARE), a clinical-stage, women’s biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it received a Notice of Award for the first $224,665 of the anticipated $1.9 million in grant funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The award will be applied to important clinical development efforts supporting Daré’s lead product candidate Ovaprene™, a non-hormonal, non-daily intravaginal ring being studied for pregnancy prevention. The balance of the award is contingent upon, among other matters, assessment of the results of the first phase of the research and availability of funds.

As quoted in the press release:

“We are reaching a critical milestone in the development of Ovaprene,” said Sabrina Martucci Johnson, President & CEO of Daré Bioscience. “We are initiating an important human subject clinical trial that is designed to assess general safety, acceptability, and effectiveness of Ovaprene in preventing progressively motile sperm from reaching the cervical mucus. These data, if positive, could serve as the basis for an IDE filing with the FDA and this non-dilutive grant award from the NICHD is very well timed as it will directly offset some of our planned development costs and allow us to more efficiently deploy our capital.”
Ovaprene is a clinical stage, non-hormonal contraceptive ring intended to provide protection over multiple weeks of use, requires no intervention at the time of intercourse, and fills a void in today’s contraception method mix. It represents a new approach to contraception and if approved, will represent a new option for women seeking non-hormonal and non-invasive methods of pregnancy protection.

Click here to read the full press release.