MGB Biopharmac has been awarded a £1.3 million conditional grant from the Technology Strategy Board, the UK’s innovation agency, under its Biomedical Catalyst programme.

The grant will help fund a phase I trial of the oral formulation of MGB Biopharma’s lead investigational drug candidate, MGB-BP-3 for the treatment of Clostridium difficile. Approximately 40 subjects are expected to be enrolled into the single centre, double-blind, placebo controlled, crossover phase I trial to determine the safety and tolerability of single ascending doses of oral MGB-BP-3.

Dr Miroslav Ravic, CEO of MGB Biopharma, said: “We are delighted that MGB Biopharma has been chosen as one of the recipients of this prestigious award from the Technology Strategy Board’s Biomedical Catalyst programme. The oral formulation of MGB-BP-3 has shown promising efficacy and good safety results in preclinical tests in C. diff. This grant, along with the funds we are looking to raise, should allow us to start this first-in-man trial by the end of 2014 or start of 2015.

“Despite a renewed interest in developing new antimicrobials, there is still a clear need for truly novel and differentiated products to tackle the growing concern of antimicrobial resistance. We believe that MGB-BP-3’s novel mechanism could, for the first time in a decade, provide a meaningful breakthrough in the development of antimicrobials for hospital-acquired infections in particular.”

Professor Iain Hunter, Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Strathclyde, said: “We are extremely pleased that MGB Biopharma has received this grant funding to progress MBG-BP-3.  It is a significant achievement for a drug designed and initially developed in an academic lab to reach Phase I trials.  MGB-BP-3 is based on our (DNA) minor groove binding technology platform that was licensed to MGB Biopharma. We are optimistic that this novel antimicrobial will play an important role in the treatment of C. diff.”

MGB-based anti-infectives have the potential to deliver significant advantages over current approaches including broad, bactericidal activity against multi-resistant Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens. In addition to the oral formulation of lead candidate MGB-BP-3, MGB Biopharma is developing an IV formulation for the treatment of Gram-positive hospital-acquired infections. MGB Biopharma’s platform also promises to deliver compounds that are active against certain viruses, fungi and parasites. MGB Biopharma’s anti-infectives are based on its minor groove binder (MGB) technology.

MGB Biopharma’s focus is on developing a completely new class of anti-infective medicine. We have started with antibiotics which are based on Minor Groove Binder (MGBs) compounds.