Glox Therapeutics awarded Collaborative Discovery Programme funding from Cystic Fibrosis Antimicrobial Resistance Syndicate
A spinout company built on 20 years of collaborative research at the Universities of Oxford and Glasgow has been awarded a £500k grant to advance the discovery and development of effective precision antibiotics. More specifically, this work will target antimicrobial-resistant lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis (CF).
More than 162,000 people are estimated to be living with CF globally*. The thick mucus that lines the lungs of people with CF can be difficult to clear, often resulting in infections due to pathogens, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, becoming embedded. This requires antibiotic treatment; however, the bacteria become resistant to these antibiotics over time, leaving CF patients with few therapeutic options.
Glox Therapeutics is pioneering the development of precision antibiotics, aimed at tackling the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis. Based on naturally occurring bacteriocins, Glox has developed novel bacteriocin engineering platforms for selectively eradicating drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa while leaving the host microbiome unaffected.
The Collaborative Discovery Programme is led by the CF AMR Syndicate, a cross-sector initiative driven by Medicines Discovery Catapult, LifeArc and Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The CF AMR Syndicate combines the expertise of leaders in CF and AMR from industry, academia and the clinic, with insights from people living with CF to accelerate CF antimicrobial drug discovery and development. This collaborative approach will allow Glox Therapeutics to benefit from expert support and resources to expedite the discovery and development of new and effective treatment options for people with CF lung infections.
Professor Colin Kleanthous FMedSci, Iveagh Professor of Microbial Biochemistry at the University of Oxford, who co-founded Glox Therapeutics with Professor Daniel Walker, formerly of the University of Glasgow, and Dr James Clark, CEO of Glox, says: ‘We are delighted to have won this award from the CF AMR Syndicate. Not only will Glox benefit from the financing of staff working exclusively on CF-specific antimicrobials, but we will also benefit from the unparalleled experience within the syndicate in treating this debilitating disease.’
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*Worldwide rates of diagnosis and effective treatment for cystic fibrosis (J Cyst Fibros, 2022)
