Auspherix and Domainex announce collaboration to develop new drugs to treat antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections

Domainex Ltd. and Auspherix Pty Ltd today announced a collaboration that will progress Auspherix’s novel anti-infective drug discovery programme towards the nomination of a clinical candidate. Auspherix intends to develop much needed new drugs to fight the increasing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, which have been widely reported as one of the most significant threats to patients’ safety across the world.*

Auspherix, an early-stage anti-infectives company, has in-licensed intellectual property from the three institute at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) with the intention of developing antibiotics with novel mechanisms of action to treat resistant bacterial disease. The company was established in 2013 as a spin out from the ithree institute by its Director Professor Ian Charles and Senior Research Fellow Dr Dagmar Alber with venture funding from Australia’s Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF). Professor Charles and Dr Alber have previously enjoyed success working together at the UK anti-infectives company Arrow Therapeutics, which was also co-founded by Professor Charles.

“We are seeing increasing numbers of cases of drug-resistant bacteria around the world, driven by cumulative overuse of antibiotics. With the rise of resistant superbugs, we desperately need to find new ways to combat infectious diseases” Professor Charles said, adding “we selected Domainex as our medicinal chemistry partner for this project, as its scientists are highly-experienced in the development of novel anti-infectives and we are looking forward to nominating a clinical candidate for progression into patients in due course.”

Domainex, a UK-based company that provides integrated drug discovery services to progress research projects from hit identification to proof of concept, is deploying its highly-experienced team of medicinal chemists to build on initial work undertaken by Auspherix. The small-molecule drug leads identified by Auspherix are being further refined with the help of the Domainex team to deliver effective novel antibiotic drug candidates suitable for progression to the clinic.

Eddy Littler, Chief Executive Officer of Domainex said, “We are thrilled to be working with Auspherix and combining their teams’ extensive expertise in antibacterial research with Domainex’s impressive track record in drug discovery. It has already proven to be a strong and fully integrated collaboration, and we are confident that our joint success will make a significant contribution to the treatment of antibacterial diseases.”

* Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/threat-report-2013/pdf/ar-threats-2013-508.pdf].