UK Innovate Funding to Support Targeted Therapeutic Yields

Biotechnology company Phico Therapeutics has been awarded £1.4 million ($1.87 million USD) by Innovate UK for development of its intravenous antibiotic, SASPject PT3.8. This antibacterial therapy is for the systemic treatment of patients with serious Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) infections, which have a high mortality rate. The project will be undertaken in partnership with The Clinical Trial Company and GE Healthcare.

P. aeruginosa causes a wide range of infections, most frequently in hospitals and is very difficult to treat, due to the organisms/bacteria’s intrinsic antibiotic resistance mechanisms, including an impermeable cell membrane and efflux pumps, which can remove antibiotics that do enter the cell.

SASPject PT3.8 utilises antibacterial small acid-soluble spore proteins (SASP), to target and deactivate bacterial DNA, stopping bacteria from metabolising or reproducing. The Innovate UK funding will be used to improve the yield of PT3.8 including the manufacture of a 15 litre pre-GMP batch for formal pre-clinical testing and development of a quality management system (QMS) for manufacturing at Phico. As partners in the project, The Clinical Trial Company is developing the QMS and GE Healthcare advising on practical manufacturing processes. The programme cost will total £2 million ($2.65 million USD) and the remaining funds will be provided by Phico’s shareholders.

Dr Heather Fairhead, CEO at Phico, said: “Our goal is to advance the science of antibacterial therapy to help overcome the global problem of bacterial resistance. This non-dilutive funding from Innovate UK is an important validation of our platform and will enable us to take our lead product towards testing in humans.”