Spero Therapeutics enters into antibiotics partnership with Roche

Spero Therapeutics, LLC, a biopharmaceutical company founded to develop novel therapies for treatment of bacterial infections, has entered into an antibiotics partnership with Roche.

"We founded Spero with the idea that novel treatment approaches and a world-class team could address the very high unmet need in bacterial infections," said Ankit Mahadevia, MD, Venture Partner at Atlas Venture and Spero's Acting President. "We are particularly pleased to be partnering with Roche on our first program. The Roche team's commitment to developing first-in-class therapies in the invigorated field of antibacterials makes them an ideal partner for Spero as we expand our efforts in this area."

Spero was founded in April 2013 by Dr. Mahadevia in collaboration with the Partners Innovation Fund, and supported by the Atlas Venture seed program. Atlas Venture, SR One, and Partners Innovation Fund have invested in the company's $3MM Series A Financing. Jean-François Formela, MD, Atlas Venture Partner, Vikas Goyal of SR One, Reza Halse, PhD, Partners Innovation Fund Partner, and Milind Deshpande, PhD, CEO of Achillion Pharmaceuticals, have joined the Spero Board with Dr. Mahadevia.

There is a tremendous unmet need for new therapies that can address infections resistant to current antibiotics. Rates of bacterial resistance even to last-line antibiotics continue to rise, rendering many established therapies ineffective in community and hospital settings. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year over two million patients in the US alone will fall ill from antibiotic resistant bacteria and at least 23,000 will die from these infections.

The company's first program extends from the work of Dr. Laurence Rahme, scientific founder of Spero, a leader in bacterial pathogenesis research, and Associate Professor at Massachusetts General Hospital. Spero is developing an inhibitor of a novel target that controls the virulence and persistence of Gram-negative bacteria such as Pseudomonas Aeruginosa. "Virulence- and persistence-targeted approaches have the potential to make a major impact in the field of anti-microbials, and I am delighted to collaborate with Spero on this effort," said Dr. Rahme. Preclinical studies have demonstrated the approach's potential to treat acute bacterial infections and prevent chronic persistence of pathogens in infection sites. The approach is unique from traditional antibiotics in its potential to pose a lower risk of driving rapid emergence of resistance and impacting the human microbiome.

Roche is providing non-dilutive R&D funding to Spero, and will have the option to acquire Spero's lead program at the IND (Investigational New Drug) application phase, at pre-negotiated terms including an upfront payment and milestones.