PITTSBURGH & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Peptilogics, a pre-clinical stage company utilizing an innovative peptide platform to treat multidrug-resistant bacterial infections, announced today that it closed a $5.5 million Series A financing with participation from Peter Thiel, Stefan Roever, BlueTree Ventures and others. Peptilogics, founded by Jonathan Steckbeck, who serves as President and Chief Scientific Officer, is also announcing Sanjay Kakkar’s appointment as Chief Executive Officer.
Peptilogics’ eCAP (engineered cationic antibiotic peptide) platform offers the prospect of a completely new class of antibiotics and has shown potent activity against a broad spectrum of resistant bacteria in multiple non-clinical models. eCAPs possess a novel mechanism of action enabling non-lytic, direct targeting and disruption of bacterial membranes causing rapid death of both dormant and growing bacterial cells. Pre-clinical data suggest that this novel mechanism of action makes these compounds less likely to generate resistance. The company’s lead compound has demonstrated an encouraging toxicity profile to date in pre-clinical studies. The funding received will fuel the expansion of the company and its eCAP platform, particularly the continued development of its first clinical candidate in preparation for an IND submission next year.
“The unique properties of the eCAP technology hold incredible promise to bring forward a new class of antibiotics that are broad spectrum and have minimal risk of generating drug resistance, a combination that is urgently needed to address the tremendous clinical need,” said Sanjay Kakkar, CEO. “I am genuinely excited to work closely with a group of groundbreaking innovators, experienced drug developers and leading investors to leverage this powerful technology to give healthcare practitioners an important new option to address the rapidly growing threat of resistant bacterial infections.”
“We are inching closer to a post-antibiotic era,” said Jonathan Steckbeck, President and CSO. “Over the past few years, we have been seeing an increase in both the number and type of drug-resistant bacterial infections. Now we are seeing more patients with infections that do not respond to any drugs, as well as extreme drug resistance in bacteria that can make healthy people sick. Our goal is to keep a step ahead of the bacteria.”
BlueTree Ventures, Stefan Roever and Dietrich Stephan, Chairman of the company, were early backers of Peptilogics’ platform technology.
“Since its early days as an exciting concept, we are thrilled to see the eCAP platform now demonstrating its potential efficacy and safety in vivo,” said Catherine Mott of BlueTree Ventures. “We believe that the clear unmet need in multidrug-resistant infections and the potential to rapidly establish proof of concept will allow Peptilogics to maximize value both in the short and long term. Additionally, Sanjay Kakkar’s wealth of experience in the growth and development of biotechnology companies at all stages of development will be instrumental in propelling the company toward its goals.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Peter Thiel as an investor as we strive to tackle one of the most pressing global health issues of our time,” said Stefan Roever. “The proven approach that Peter Thiel takes to identifying and supporting innovative companies complements ideally the ambitious mission that we are pursuing at Peptilogics.”
About Peptilogics
Peptilogics is an early-stage biotechnology company developing a new class of antibiotics with a novel mechanism of action derived from their eCAP (engineered cationic antibiotic peptide) platform for the treatment of multidrug-resistant infections. Through rational design, this technology dramatically amplifies the antimicrobial activity of naturally-occurring peptides while at the same time achieving a strong systemic safety profile. The eCAP platform has the potential to produce antibiotics with broad-spectrum activity with low risk of generating resistance, due to the unique mechanism of action involving the targeted disruption of bacterial membranes. For more information visit: www.peptilogics.com.
