San Diego-based Afraxis will receive crucial early stage funding through a new collaboration with the National Institute of Health's (NIH) Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Disease Program (TRND), boosting its Fragile X program through the notorious "Valley of Death." If all goes well, that will get a product to the investigational new drug (IND) application stage. Afraxis was one of four companies selected for the TRND program in the current application cycle. The award has no dollar amount associated with it, but is funded out of a $50 million budget through the NIH.