C-Path Awards $1.7m BRIDGe Grants for 5 Drug Programmes

The Critical Path Institute (C-Path) has awarded $1,699,500 through five Bridging Research and Innovation in Drug Development (BRIDGe) grants across its Translational Therapeutics Accelerator programme. Announced on 22 September 2026, the grants cover brain health, paediatrics and rare/orphan disease projects spanning three small molecule programmes, one protein-based therapeutic and one in vivo gene therapy, providing translational infrastructure for underfunded academic and nonprofit-led drug development candidates.

The two largest awards focus on rare and orphan disease targets: $501,000 to Wesley Van Voorhis at University of Washington to advance BKI-1708, a selective CpCDPK1 kinase inhibitor, toward an IND application for cryptosporidiosis, a disease responsible for an estimated 200,000 deaths annually concentrated in young children in low- and middle-income countries; and $456,000 to James Shayman at University of Michigan to develop BPN-25271, a brain-penetrant glucosylceramide synthase inhibitor for Gaucher disease type 3, GM1 gangliosidosis, Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff disease. The three remaining awards fund Weill Cornell Medicine’s Teresa Sanchez ($250,000) for an antibody-based blood-brain barrier therapy for sepsis-related cognitive decline; Odylia Therapeutics ($249,719) for an AAV gene therapy for Usher Syndrome Type 1C retinal degeneration; and Corey Hopkins at University of Nebraska Medical Center with Jerri Rook at Vanderbilt ($242,781) for sigma-1 receptor antagonists targeting neuropathic pain and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.

BRIDGe awards are structured around clear milestones and go/no-go decision points, with awardees retaining full ownership of their intellectual property and gaining access to C-Path expert consultations and Scientific Advisory Committee evaluations. The 2026 cycle added a dedicated funding track for polycystic kidney disease in partnership with the PKD Foundation.

The commercial signal is a growing translational funding infrastructure focused on academic and nonprofit-led rare disease and non-opioid pain research, with substantial commercial implications for major pharma pipelines. Companies to watch include Vertex Pharmaceuticals (non-opioid pain, Journavx), Sanofi (Gaucher franchise), Otsuka (Jynarque for PKD), Spark Therapeutics (Roche), Editas Medicine and Novartis across gene therapy and rare disease adjacencies through 2027.

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