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HEATH --  The 1,000-square foot clean room lab of the Port Authority's Horton Building has a new occupant, one pursuing dramatic discoveries in the treatment of the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr. Rene Anand, CEO and founder of Neurxstem, signed a three-year lease and moved into the lab in May, performing research on the treatment of COVID-19, as well opioid addiction and other health conditions Neurxstem defines itself as a predictive and precision genomic brain medicine company.

Anand began looking for space late last year, in anticipation of receiving a federal grant for his research on opioids, long before the coronavirus began infecting millions of Americans and killing more than 170,000 so far. He said treatments might be as effective as a vaccine.

"I've re-prioritized everything for COVID," Anand said. "It's a war and we have to act like it's a war. More than one strategy needs to be in place. The vaccine for COVID is an unknown trajectory. I hope it works, but I don't do anything based on hope. We have an alternate approach to it."

Anand seeks to reduce COVID-19 infections and mortality from severe acute respiratory distress.

Congressman Troy Balderson, R-Zanesville, toured the lab on the Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center campus on Friday, and left encouraged about efforts to find solutions to control the pandemic.

“I think it’s phenomenal what they’re doing," Balderson said. "It’s very valuable. This is the kind of thing we need to be aware of. I’m very encouraged, especially with the COVID-19 piece and some of the things he’s figured out so far. As we’re going through this tragedy, we are picking up a lot of knowledge.”

Rick Platt, executive director of the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority, said the length of the lease will probably not determine how long Anand remains in the Horton Building. The $1.6 million grant is for two years, but Anand seeks other sources of funding.

“The science and success they achieve will decide how long here," Platt said. "He saw there’s room to grow. His research on the brain was encountering these other issues, but only recently did he start to put it together how this virus is impacting the brain."

Neurxstem received a small business grant from the National Institutes of Health under the Congressional HEAL initiative for developing diagnostics and therapeutic counter measures for the opioid crisis.

"I wanted to know the intrinsic susceptibility to opioids," Anand said. "If possible for COVID, the intervention has to be immediate."

In 2015, New Albany-based Chromocare and Canadian company Firefly Diagnostics opened a genetic testing lab in the Horton Building space, but the companies left the facility a year later.

The Port Authority built the speculative Horton Building with a 1,000-square-foot clean room in 2011. The building has space for three additional clean rooms.