LONDON (Alliance News) - Destiny Pharma PLC said Friday that it has secured a GBP1.6 million grant for examining novel drugs to prevent, control and eradicate life threatening bacteria or "superbugs" without generating resistance.
Shares in the company were 15% higher at 75.00 pence each in morning trade.
The funding was awarded by a collaboration established under the UK-China AMR grant fund set up by Innovate UK and the Department of Health & Social Care with the Chinese Ministry of Science & Technology.
The two-year project will research novel antimicrobial candidates from the company's XF drug platform for use against skin and eye infections. The research work will be undertaken by the company's team in collaboration with expert groups at Cardiff University's School of Dentistry and College of Biomedical & Life Sciences.
"We are hopeful this collaboration may help us identify additional clinical candidates that are safe, effective and with a significantly reduced level of antimicrobial resistance. Destiny Pharma is planning to complete Phase 2 trials in its lead XF programme, XF-73, in 2019 and is looking forward to identifying additional, novel drug candidates through this exciting UK-China collaboration," Destiny Pharma Chief Executive Neil Clark said.
Destiny Pharma. (DEST)