Polyphor receives CHF 40 million private financing for antibiotic research

The proceeds will be used to finance the Pharma business unit, and particularly the pivotal registration program of the antibiotic Murepavadin (POL7080) against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, including its most resistant strains, and the proof of concept program for the elastase inhibitor POL6014. Further, the proceeds will also be used to finance the completion of the preclinical development of the Polyphor antibiotic platform to progress candidates into the clinical stage.

Under the terms of the transaction, Polyphor received CHF 10 million and will call the remaining CHF 30 million in the second half of the year after the successful completion of the clinical end of Phase II meeting for its lead clinical stage antibiotic, Murepavadin, with the US Food and Drug Administration, FDA.

“The very significant backing of the financing by our existing investors, including the substantial support from anchor investors Varuma AG and Ingro Finanz AG, is an important sign of trust and endorsement of the strategy, and allows the implementation of our mission to build value by developing innovative medicines to fight antibiotic resistance and help patients with severe respiratory diseases.”

Murepavadin (POL7080) is the first representative of the Outer Membrane Protein Targeting Antibiotics (OMPTA) class, a class of antibiotics against Gram-negative bacteria with a novel mode of action discovered by Polyphor. It is the first new class of antibiotics against Gram-negative pathogens to enter late-stage clinical development in over 40 years.

Murepavadin is being developed for the treatment of Nosocomial Pneumonia (VAP and HAP) caused by infections through Pseudomonas aeruginosa, including its resistant strains – a disease with a reported mortality of 30-40%. Carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa is considered one of the top three most dangerous pathogens by the World Health Organization.