Lidak Pharmaceuticals has received a Phase I SBIR grant tooptimize a mouse model intended for cancer research in whicha human tumor is grown in mice with an inborn immunedeficiency.

The $50,000 grant from the small business innovative researchprogram of the National Institutes of Health will enable the LaJolla, Calif.-based company to further characterize andoptimize the mouse model, which the company said will allowmore rapid development of anti-cancer drugs.

Human cancers of the white blood cells -- leukemias andlymphomas -- grow in the mice as well as in humans, but donot grow in any other animal model, the company said onMonday. Lidak (NASDAQ:LDAK) is also commercializing theimmune-deficient mice in another application, in which themice are implanted with a functioning human immune system.

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