Novobiotic Pharmaceuticals, LLC received a $4.5 million Project Grant award from the Defense Health Agency to conduct late-stage preclinical development of the antibiotic teixobactin through April 2026. The funding supports research under the Military Medical Research and Development program, which aims to develop medical solutions for battlefield injuries and infectious diseases. Specifically, the award will allow Novobiotic to advance teixobactin, initially discovered using its iChip...
This $240,878 Project Grant, awarded on June 2, 2025 by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), supports planning activities for a future clinical trial to evaluate a novel treatment strategy for Mycobacterium abscessus pulmonary disease. The key objectives are to: 1) develop the detailed trial protocol and documentation, 2) secure the study drug and placebo, 3) identify additional enrollment...
This Project Grant awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) provides $2,000,000 in funding to Vast Therapeutics, Inc. to advance the development of a novel nitric oxide-releasing formulation (ALX1) as a treatment for Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in bronchiectasis patients. The key objectives of this 2-year project are to: 1) enhance the product quality and long-term stability of...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (CFDA 93.855 - Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research) provides $300,001 to Fimbrion Therapeutics Inc. to develop novel heterocyclic inhibitors of the QcrB respiratory protein as potential treatments for infections caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). The key objectives of this R&D project are to optimize the drug-like properties of the QcrB inhibitor compounds, demonstrate their potency...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) provides $741,917 to West Virginia University Research Corporation to develop therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections, with a focus on sepsis. The key objectives are to characterize the mechanism of action of a lead antibody candidate, formulate it into a multivalent...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), aims to develop new antimicrobial agents and combination therapies to combat the growing threat of Gram-negative bacterial pathogens, specifically carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP). The $2,308,174 award, with a performance period from August 2024 to May 2029, will fund three...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), provides $895,538 to Hackensack University Medical Center (HMH Hospitals Corporation) to develop shorter and more effective oral regimens for treating Mycobacterium abscessus pulmonary disease. The research aims to discover all-oral sterilizing drug regimens, either using FDA-approved agents or integrating novel preclinical and...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) provides $261,846 to New York Medical College to develop an intranasal vaccine against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA), a common cause of healthcare-associated infections. The research aims to create a multi-valent vaccine using tobacco mosaic virus as a delivery platform, with the goal of providing broad protection against different...
This Project Grant award of $2,248,740.00 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (CFDA 93.855 - Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research) is funding research by Michigan State University to develop new nitro-containing compounds to treat mycobacterial infections, including tuberculosis (TB) and non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections. The key products and services to be delivered include: Optimizing a series of novel nitrofuran compounds, such as the parent...
This Project Grant award of $451,000 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) supports research conducted by The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern) to develop a human lung alveolus-on-a-chip model for studying non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infections. The goal is to gain insights into NTM pathogenesis, host-pathogen interactions, and identify potential...
DEVELOPING TEIXOBACTIN FOR RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS - ABSTRACT: THE MAJOR GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO INVESTIGATE THE POTENTIAL FOR TEIXOBACTIN, OUR NEWLY DISCOVERED ANTIBIOTIC, TO TREAT RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS. AS REPORTED IN 2019 BY THE CDC, PNEUMONIA CAUSED BY DRUG RESISTANT STREPTOCOCCUS PNEUMONIAE, AS WELL AS METHICILLIN-RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS (MRSA), ARE CONSIDERED SERIOUS THREATS. IN ADDITION, RESPIRATORY BACTERIAL CO-INFECTIONS WITH COVID-19 HAVE RECENTLY BEEN RECOGNIZED AS A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM. HAEMOPHILUS INFLUENZAE AND MORAXELLA CATARRHALIS ARE TWO OTHER RESPIRATORY PATHOGENS PARTICULARLY PROBLEMATIC IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE AND ARE COMMON CAUSES OF COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED BACTERIAL PNEUMONIA (CABP). THE MOST REMARKABLE, AND UNEXPECTED PROPERTY OF TEIXOBACTIN IS THE LACK OF ANY DETECTABLE RESISTANCE TO THIS COMPOUND. TEIXOBACTIN HITS TWO RELATED TARGETS-LIPID II, PRECURSOR OF PEPTIDOGLYCAN AND LIPID III, PRECURSOR OF WALL TEICHOIC ACID. THESE HIGHLY CONSERVED TARGETS ARE NOT MUTABLE-THEY ARE NOT PROTEINS AND ARE NOT DIRECTLY CODED BY DNA. SINCE OUR DISCOVERY OF TEIXOBACTIN, WE AND OTHERS HAVE FAILED TO GENERATE RESISTANT MUTANTS IN ANY SPECIES INCLUDING S. AUREUS, MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS OR BACILLUS ANTHRACIS. TEIXOBACTIN IS HIGHLY EFFICACIOUS IN ANIMAL MODELS OF THIGH, LUNG AND BLOOD INFECTIONS. ANIMAL INFECTION MODELS PREDICT THAT THE HUMAN DOSE OF TEIXOBACTIN FOR ACUTE SKIN AND SKIN STRUCTURE INFECTIONS (ABSSSI) WILL BE VERY LOW (=1 MG/KG/DAY), WHICH IS ADVANTAGEOUS, AS A LOW DOSE MAY MINIMIZE SIDE EFFECTS AND REDUCE MANUFACTURING COSTS. TEIXOBACTIN IS IN PRECLINICAL DEVELOPMENT AS AN INTRAVENOUS (IV) DRUG FOR TREATING SKIN INFECTIONS CAUSED BY PATHOGENS SUCH AS MRSA. A PRE-INVESTIGATIONAL NEW DRUG (IND) MEETING WITH FDA WAS HELD IN DECEMBER 2018 WHEREBY THE FDA GENERALLY AGREED WITH OUR DEVELOPMENT PLAN. AN IND SUBMISSION FOR ABSSSI IS PLANNED FOR 2022. IN THIS PROJECT, AIM 1 WILL PRODUCE ENOUGH TEIXOBACTIN FOR ALL THE PROPOSED STUDIES. AIM 2 WILL CONDUCT EFFICACY AND PK/PD STUDIES IN ANIMAL MODELS OF PNEUMONIA. AIM 3 WILL TEST IN VITRO SUSCEPTIBILITY, BACTERICIDAL ACTIVITY, POST ANTIBIOTIC EFFECT (PAE) AND RESISTANCE IN RECENT CLINICAL ISOLATES FROM RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS. AIM 4 WILL PREPARE AND SUBMIT AN IND APPLICATION FOR INTRAVENOUS TREATMENT OF A RESPIRATORY INFECTION. AIM 5 WILL EXPLORE ALTERNATIVE ROUTES OF TXB ADMINISTRATION (INHALATION AND INTRAMUSCULAR DELIVERY), WHICH WOULD BE PARTICULARLY USEFUL FOR OUTPATIENT TREATMENT OF RESPIRATORY AND OTHER INFECTIONS. WITH SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THESE PROJECTS, WE WILL HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE PROMISE OF TEIXOBACTIN FOR TREATING DRUG RESISTANT RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS AND EXPLORED MORE CONVENIENT ROUTES OF TXB ADMINISTRATION.