News 19th August 2004
Phico Therapeutics - successful fundraising
allows company to develop novel treatment for superbug, MRSA
Phico Therapeutics Ltd, an early stage company developing novel
antibiotics, has recently closed a financing round raising almost
£750,000 from business angels including Cambridge Capital
Group, institutional investor Providence Investment Company Ltd.,
and a government grant.
Phico Therapeutics was founded by Dr Heather Fairhead, with funding
from Cambridge Research and Innovation Ltd., at the end of 2000
to develop a completely new approach to antibiotics. The technology,
known as SASPjectTM,
is based on a unique protein
that targets and inactivates bacterial DNA. Modified bacterial viruses,
called bacteriophages, are used to deliver the gene encoding this
protein to specific harmful bacteria. Bacteriophages can only target
bacteria and act like a hypodermic syringe to inject the gene into
target bacteria where the lethal protein is produced.
The company believes that the technology can be used to target almost
any bacterial species, but its first target is methicillin
resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), sometimes
referred to in the media as a superbug. MRSA can cause serious and
sometimes lethal infections including skin and wound infections,
pneumonia and bacteraemia and is often resistant to many antibiotics.
Over the next 12 months Phico will complete development of a product
that eliminates the MRSA bacteria which often live on the skin of
healthy humans, in preparation for a Phase I clinical trial in humans
in 2005. Phico is concurrently developing an anti-MRSA treatment
for intravenous use.
This funding will also allow Phico to begin development of a therapy
against the bacterium, Clostridium difficile. This organism
causes C. difficile-associated diarrhoea and is the major
cause of infectious diarrhoea in hospitalised patients. It can be
very difficult to treat, with a 20% relapse rate following a course
of conventional antibiotics.
The company has labs and offices at the Babraham Research Campus.
Dr Heather Fairhead, founder and CEO of Phico Therapeutics commented
"I am delighted to welcome Phico's new investors and thank
existing investors for their continued support. I look forward to
the company making significant progress over the next year with
the help of this funding.