MGB Biopharma has received the funding from Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation agency, under its Biomedical Catalyst programme.
The grant will help fund a Phase IIa trial of the oral formulation of MGB Biopharma’s lead investigational drug candidate, MGB-BP-3, for the treatment of the Clostridium difficile infection. Approximately 30 patients are expected to be enrolled into the multi-centre trial to determine the safety, tolerability, dosing schedule and efficacy of ascending doses of the treatment.
Professor Colin Suckling, MGB technology inventor at the University of Strathclyde, said: “We are extremely pleased that MGB Biopharma has received this grant funding to progress MBG-BP-3. It is a significant achievement for a drug designed and initially developed in an academic lab to reach Phase IIa clinical trials.
“MGB-BP-3 is based on our DNA minor groove binder technology platform that was licenced to MGB Biopharma. We are optimistic that this novel antimicrobial will play an important role in the treatment of Clostridium difficile.”
Dr Miroslav Ravic, CEO of MGB Biopharma, said: “We are delighted that MGB Biopharma has been chosen as one of the recipients of this prestigious award from Innovate UK’s Biomedical Catalyst programme. The oral formulation of MGB-BP-3 has shown promising efficacy and good safety and tolerability profiles in pre-clinical testing, and in our Phase I trial. The funding provided by this grant from Innovate UK, together with the additional support of our investors, will allow us to initiate this patient trial by the summer of 2018.
“Despite a renewed interest in developing new antimicrobials, there is still a clear need for truly novel and differentiated products to tackle the growing concern of antimicrobial resistance. We believe that MGB-BP-3’s novel mechanism could, for the first time in over a decade, provide a meaningful breakthrough in the development of antimicrobials for hospital-acquired infections in particular.”
Anti-infectives based on the minor groove binder technology have the potential to deliver significant advantages over current approaches including broad, bactericidal activity against multi-resistant Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens.
In addition to the oral formulation of lead candidate MGB-BP-3, MGB Biopharma is developing an intravenous formulation targeting a range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative infections commonly acquired in hospitals.
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