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LONDON (Alliance News) - Imperial Innovations Group PLC Wednesday said it has committed GBP3 million to invest in Auspherix Ltd (UK), a company working on new antibiotics that work against bacteria that have developed resistance to existing treatments.
Imperial Innovations, which invests in technology developed from academic research, will own 27.5% of Auspherix, which raised GBP6 million in the funding round as a whole. Imperial Innovations is investing alongside Australia's Medical Research Commercialisation Fund, the founding investor.
The money raised will be used to fund the company's drug discovery programme and to "grow the company from its virtual base adding experienced management and recruiting a world-class microbiology team".
Dr Roberto Solari, a venture partner at Imperial Innovations, has now become the independent non-executive chairman of Auspherix. Solari previously held the position of vice president in GlaxoSmithKline's Respiratory Therapy Area and is currently a senior research fellow in the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London. Auspherix said in expects to appoint a chief executive in the coming months.
"Auspherix's novel chemistry has activity against a broad range of multidrug resistant (MDR) Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial infections and the initial pharmacokinetic profile of these compounds is consistent with their use as an antibacterial drug for a number of indications with high unmet need and large market potential," Solari said in a statement.
Auspherix, which has its origins in Sydney, Australia, is establishing operations on the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst site just outside of London, where it is building its research and development team.
Although Auspherix was founded in Australia in 2013 as a result of discoveries at the University of Technology Sydney, it has been incorporated in the UK since April.
"Auspherix has progressed very rapidly and is now at the stage that building out the team is appropriate. The potential of the company's new class of anti-infectives is an extremely exciting opportunity and I am delighted that Imperial innovations has agreed to invest alongside the MRCF to move the programmes forward," Dr Stephen Thompson, partner at Brandon Capital Partners, the Australian venture capital firm that manages the Medical Research Commercialisation Fund, said in a statement.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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