BioWorld International Correspondent

LONDON - Anti-infectives specialist Novacta Biosystems Ltd. was awarded a £3.5 million (US$6.9 million) grant to develop a Clostridium difficile treatment, and will use the backing to embark on a venture capital funding round, aiming to raise a further £4 million.

The grant, from the Wellcome Trust's Strategic Translation Award program, will enable the company to take the preclinical compound into Phase I within the next 18 months. Meanwhile, the venture capital funding will be used for further preclinical development of products that are following on behind, including treatments for acne, skin infections and nosocomial infections.

"Getting the backing of the Wellcome Trust is a real seal of approval on our science," Tony Sedgwick, CEO told BioWorld International. "This grant opens the door to taking a new, first-in-class anti-infective into the clinic."

After completing Phase I, Sedgwick plans to partner the product for continued development. "I'm a great believer in betting big pharma in early; they do these things so well."

The Welwyn, UK-based company specializes in using pathway engineering and biotransformation technology to manipulate the structure of naturally occurring lantibiotics. Sedgwick noted that enables the company to optimize natural products in ways that are not possible with conventional medicinal chemistry.

"Of course, a great number of existing drugs are based on natural products. But with the advent of combinatorial chemistry, and so on, the scientific world has lost interest. We're at the forefront of a revival, and our technology enables natural products to be finely tuned," he said.

As the orally-delivered product is targeted specifically at C. difficile, it is expected to avoid the usual gastro-intestinal side effects that are common with broad spectrum antibiotics. As a result, Sedgwick said that, given the right safety profile, it may be appropriate for prophylactic use.

Novacta Biosystems has raised $2.9 million since it was founded by Fiona Marston, the former CEO, and Mike Dawson CSO, former head of the Biotransformations and Natural Product Chemistry at GlaxoSmithKline plc. In addition, the company has turnover of about £1 million per year from providing process and compound development services.

Sedgwick joined Novacta in August 2007 following the sale of his previous company, zebrafish specialist Daniolabs Ltd., to Summit plc (then known as VASTox).