Collaborative Discovery Programme
Advancing Preclinical Phase Projects for Cystic Fibrosis Lung Infections
The CF AMR Syndicate Collaborative Discovery Programme (CDP) is advancing an exciting and diverse pipeline of preclinical phase projects for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) lung infections. Our £3 million (GBP) programme (provided by LifeArc) is supporting six early-stage drug discovery projects aligned with the unmet needs identified in our Therapeutic Target Product Profiles (TPP) for CF lung infections.
CDP offers a unique collaborative approach to project development and delivery. As well as funding, our awardees benefit from additional collaborative support, increasing the probability of successful outcomes.
Support through the early development phases to generate essential data packages will position these projects to attract onward funding and investment for further development.
More than just Funding
Collaboration at the Centre
- – Collaborative support – overcoming barriers together
- – Provision/access to CF AMR Syndicate resources
- – Drug discovery and disease area insight and advice
- – Support to develop actionable project plans aligned to TPP
Our Project Pipeline
Project Summary
BioVersys’ Non-tubercular Mycobacteria (NTM) preclinical program is derived from the company’s proprietary Ansamycin Chemistry platform. The BioVersys’ research team is developing a novel and highly potent best in class, broad-spectrum anti-NTM ansamycin, suitable for oral or inhalation therapy that is devoid of cross-resistance with other therapeutic classes and does not show any significant potential for drug-drug interactions.
Company Summary
BioVersys AG is a multi-asset, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying, developing and commercializing novel antibacterial products for serious life-threatening infections caused by multi-drug resistant (“MDR”) bacteria. Derived from the company’s two internal technology platforms (TRIC and Ansamycin Chemistry), candidates are designed and developed to overcome resistance mechanisms, block virulence production and directly affect the pathogenesis of harmful bacteria towards the identification of new treatment options in the antimicrobial and microbiome fields. This enables BioVersys to address the high unmet medical need for new treatments against life-threatening resistant bacterial infections and bacteria-exacerbated chronic inflammatory microbiome disorders. The company’s most advanced research and development programs address nosocomial infections of Acinetobacter baumannii (BV100, Phase 2), and tuberculosis (alpibectir, Phase 2a, in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and a consortium of the University of Lille, France). BioVersys is located in the biotech hub of Basel, Switzerland.
More on the Call Scope
This first funding call sought to identify project proposals with the potential to address needs identified in our therapeutic TPPs in particular:
- Antimicrobials focused on Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections as 1) a maintenance therapy to suppress chronic respiratory infection or 2) treatment of acute pulmonary exacerbations linked to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection.
- Antimicrobials focused on Mycobacterium abscessus infections as 1) a maintenance therapy to suppress chronic respiratory infection or 2) treatment of acute pulmonary exacerbations linked to M.abscessus infection or 3) eradication treatment. Also in scope, treatments targeting ‘fast-growing’ NTMs of the M.abscessus complex esp. those resistant to existing standard of care (Clarithromycin and Macrolides) and antimicrobials to Mycobacterium avium.
- Antimicrobials focused on treating infections associated with other emerging pathogens associated with CF; Strenotrophomonas maltophilia, H.influenzae, B.cepacia (and related species such as B.cenocepacia, B. multivorans), Achromobacter spp. Pandoraea spp, Ralstonia spp, S. aureus. Treatments to fungal pathogens associated with chronic infections in CF (Aspergillus, Candida albicans) were also considered in scope.
Grant funding was open to researchers in academia and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) worldwide and projects were required to be early phase from hit validation through lead optimisation and early preclinical. Varying modalities were considered e.g. small and large molecule, phage etc, either direct-acting and otherwise (e.g. anti-virulence).
The 2023 funding call sought to identify projects aligned to our therapeutic TPPs
Applications Received
Following the launch of CDP and close of the expression of interest the CF AMR Syndicate received 36 expressions of interest from academics and small medium enterprises globally. 17 were selected for full stage review (based on scope and criteria), following panel selection 10 applicants were invited to submit full applications.
Incubator support happened right at the start of the launch of the call…
Applicants were provided with support and advice by the CF AMR Syndicate throughout all stages of the application process via 1-1 meetings, workshops and webinars. Engagement and input from people with lived experience of CF was a key part of the review process.
Breakdown of applications
The 36 expressions of interest received were from 11 countries across the globe and encompassed a broad range of therapeutic modalities.
Scientific Advisory Board
To enhance the support of the CDP portfolio each awardee within the portfolio has access to a bespoke scientific advisory board. To ensure the highest standards are attained, our scientific advisory board is comprised of subject matter experts with the relevant knowledge and expertise to provide the strategic guidance required to deliver the CDP portfolio of projects. Meet the advisory board:
Pam Brown
Pam has over 35 years of experience in antibacterial drug discovery within both the large Pharma and biotech sector. Her background is in medicinal chemistry and project leadership from hit-to-lead and lead optimisation stages through to candidate selection. Her many publications cover the design, synthesis and SAR of antibacterial agents in a variety of classes including carbapenems, pleuromutilins, tRNA synthetase inhibitors, topoisomerase inhibitors and polymyxins.
Lloyd Czaplewski
Lloyd is currently Chief Scientific Officer for Persica Pharmaceuticals Limited, a Director of Chemical Biology Ventures Ltd, which provides life & chemical sciences consultancy services and is a Non-Executive Director at Curza. Previously Lloyd served as an R&D executive for Biota, Prolysis, and British Biotech Pharmaceuticals and Chaired the Novo Repair Impact Fund Scientific Selection Board. He also serves on advisory boards including the WHO Antibiotic Advisory Panel and as a CARB-X Funding Panel member. Lloyd earned his PhD in Molecular Genetics from the University of Glasgow and a First Class B.Sc in Biological Sciences from the University of East Anglia. He is an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Shampa Das
Shampa Das (BSc, PhD) is a Professor of Antimicrobial Therapeutics at the University of Liverpool and PK/PD consultant. Following 17 years within the pharmaceutical industry, Shampa has extensive expertise in using PK-PD for developing Clinical Pharmacology and dose strategies to support the clinical development and regulatory approval of new anti-infective drugs. Her main research area is Antimicrobial Pharmacodynamics and Therapeutics with a focus on using PK-PD to inform critical decisions on adult and paediatric dosing. She is also PK-PD expert on the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) steering committee for breakpoint decision.
Dave Nichols
Professor of Pediatrics, Seattle Children’s Hospital at the University of Washington: Dave Nichols, MD is a professor of pediatrics at Seattle Children’s Hospital at the University of Washington and the medical director of the CF Therapeutics Development Network Coordinating Center (TDNCC). He has provided CF medical care for both adults and children with CF for several years and now helps to support and lead a number of CF clinical research trials. Dave currently co-leads the PROMISE and SIMPLIFY studies in the U.S., which are considering how using Trikafta affects the lives of those with CF, including how they feel after starting this medication and whether they continue to benefit from daily inhaled medications like dornase alfa and hypertonic saline.
Deborah O’Neil OBE FRSE
A biotechnology entrepreneur and immunologist by training, Deborah has over two decades of experience in drug discovery and development. Deborah studied at University College London and then worked in postdoctoral positions in internationally acclaimed laboratories in San Diego and Ghent before moving to Aberdeen where she founded NovaBiotics. NovaBiotics is now a global biotechnology business with a portfolio of first-in-class solutions for unmet health and personal care needs, all of which have been developed from proprietary technology based on how the innate immune system maintains healthy tissue. Deborah chairs the life science sector board of Opportunity North East and the BioAberdeen Ltd board. She also chairs the UK’s Medicines Discovery Catapult-Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Trust’s antimicrobial resistance syndicate steering group. Deborah is a board member of the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) and previously sat on the board of the UK’s BioIndustry Association and the Scottish Industry Leadership Group for Life Science. Deborah is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. She is an Honorary Professor of the University of Aberdeen and in 2023, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from Robert Gordon University. Named as one of the 20 women leaders in European biotech in 2019, one of the 30 top female leaders in UK Healthcare in 2018, Deborah was made OBE in the Queen’s 2020 Birthday Honours list, for services to biotechnology, industry and charity.
Peter Warn
Peter Warn is a consultant at Magic Bullet Consulting with expertise in the development of antimicrobial agents. During the COVID pandemic Peter was a Scientific Advisor to the DHSC on COVID diagnostics assisting in the development of the Lighthouse Laboratory network. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President of Anti-infective Discovery at Evotec, where he led antimicrobial discovery programmes and had scientific oversight of external client contracts. Peter was a founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Euprotec before the company was acquired by Evotec. Previously he was a senior lecturer at the University of Manchester, running a research group investigating the pathogenesis and treatment of severe infections. He has also lectured within Molecular Parasitology at the University of Oxford and, was a clinical scientist in Public Health England .Peter has published over 80 papers and over 400 conference abstracts. He has been awarded multiple research grants including by The Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the National Institutes of Health, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Peter holds a PhD in medical sciences from the University of Manchester.
