NIH awards two new grants to develop Avidocin platform

AvidBiotics today announced the receipt of two new grants totaling $1 million dollars from the National Institutes of Health that further the development of the company's novel Avidocin™ platform for narrow spectrum antibacterial proteins against important health care threats. These grants add to three previous grants covering AvidBiotics' anti-infectious disease technologies, which provide approximately $3.4 million in currently active funding for the company.

“Recent discoveries regarding the importance of the human microbiota in human health and disease emphasize the need for narrow-spectrum antibacterial agents that avoid the collateral damage of broad-spectrum antibiotics”

"Recent discoveries regarding the importance of the human microbiota in human health and disease emphasize the need for narrow-spectrum antibacterial agents that avoid the collateral damage of broad-spectrum antibiotics," said David Martin, M.D., AvidBiotics' chief executive officer. "Avidocin™ proteins represent a new class of highly targeted bactericidal agents that avoid the problems associated with antibiotic overuse and abuse and offer opportunities for both the prevention and treatment of bacterial diseases."

The new grants include:

• An R21 grant to fund the generation of a portfolio of Avidocin™ proteins, targeting foodborne bacteria causing gastrointestinal disease.
• An SBIR Phase 1 grant to fund the creation, evaluation and preclinical development of an engineered Avidocin™ protein targeting specifically Acinetobacter, a bacterium associated with serious, often broadly antibiotic-resistant infections in Intensive Care Units and incurred by U.S. military deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This new funding adds to three other active grants received previously by AvidBiotics:

• A SBIR Phase 2 grant for the non-clinical development of Avidocin™ proteins against plague; this grant follows a previously completed Phase 1 grant for plague.
• A SBIR Phase 1 grant for development of Avidocin™ proteins against E. coli 0157:H7, an important cause of food borne bloody diarrhea that in some children results in kidney failure.
• A SBIR Phase 1 grant to develop targeted, soluble MICA molecules to recruit innate immunity cells to kill LCM and Yellow Fever Virus infected cells; this grant explores applications of AvidBiotics Micacide™ technology for the targeted killing of virus infected cells.

"This continued support from NIH validates the innovative nature and broad applicability of our technology and approach to the treatment of serious, often antibiotic-resistant infectious diseases," said James L. Knighton, AvidBiotics' president. "In the four years since AvidBiotics' founding, we have received approximately $4 million in NIH funding covering aspects of each of the company's three technologies: Avidocin™ proteins, Micacide™ proteins, and our technology for protein diversity generation, which can be applied to both product platforms."