Charity finances Polyphor research

The pharmaceutical company Polyphor has received CHF 2.3 million to advance research work on a particular antibiotic. Polyphor has been very successful in developing medicines against drug-resistant pathogens.

The non-profit Wellcome Trust has awarded Polyphor CHF 2.3 million in research funding. Wellcome is the world’s largest biomedical research funding charity with a strong commitment to antibacterial research and development.

Polyphor has developed a new product class called Outer Membrane Polyphor Targeting Antibiotics (OMPTA), which has shown outstanding efficacy against the most resistant strains of certain pathogens, according to a Polyphor statement. The funding awarded by Wellness will enable the pharmaceutical company from the canton of Basel-Landschaft to now accelerate the development of broad-spectrum, Gram-negative pre-clinical product candidates.

“The resistance of bacteria to antibiotics is a growing and significant global public health issue,” said Polyphor CEO Giacomo Di Nepi. “The support from Wellcome will help us advance our novel broad-spectrum antibiotics even more expeditiously towards the first clinical trial.” He added that the award “exemplifies Polyphor’s strategy of translating innovative research into new medicines that address major unmet needs”.