NRx Defense receives $11.2 million DARPA contract

• NRx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:NRXP) subsidiary NRx Defense Systems received an $11.18 million DARPA prime contract to evaluate a depression treatment approach.
• The FDA-approved SPARC-TMS trial will study whether one day of transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with investigational NRX-101 can treat major depressive disorder.
• NRx stated that the study could support future regulatory evaluation of NRX-101 with TMS if results are replicated.

NRx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:NRXP) announced that its subsidiary NRx Defense Systems received an initial DARPA prime contract worth $11,177,757.27 to evaluate a treatment approach for major depressive disorder.

The contract will support the FDA-approved SPARC-TMS trial, which will evaluate whether a single day of transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with investigational NRX-101 can effectively treat depression.

The trial will be conducted at Harvard Medical School’s McLean Hospital, Arizona State University and HOPE Therapeutics, with plans to expand enrollment to military hospitals, while NRx stated the program builds on prior DARPA-funded research.

The company stated that prior research supporting the program included a completed DARPA-funded randomized trial and published real-world findings reporting a 91% treatment response rate and 69% remission rate three months after traditional TMS combined with D-cycloserine.

NRx stated that SPARC-TMS could potentially serve as an FDA registration study for NRX-101 combined with TMS in treatment-resistant depression if the trial results are replicated.