Debiopharm and TCGLS Enter Into an Exclusive Research Agreement
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Debiopharm Group™ (Debiopharm) and TCG Lifesciences Limited (TCGLS) have announced the signature of an exclusive discovery collaboration to develop innovative antibiotics targeting drug-resistant bacteria for community hospital-acquired infections.
Debiopharm is willing to become a key player in the area of antibacterials to fulfill the increasing need of new classes of antibiotics to overcome resistance to current treatment.
Under the terms of the agreement, TCGLS will contribute its expertise in the discovery and optimization of lead compounds whilst Debiopharm will provide drug development expertise and fund the development program.
“We foresee to increase our commitment in this field over next few months through additional partnerships and investments on other innovative targets” said David Deperthes, VP Business Development & Licensing.
"We are very enthusiastic about this partnership with TCGLS for the development of novel antibiotics, their extensive experience in medicinal chemistry and infectious diseases is a major asset for the development of Debio 1348. This partnership is key to us to establish a leadership position in the area of antibiotics” said Rolland-Yves Mauvernay, President and founder of Debiopharm Group™.
Swapan Bhattacharya, Managing Director of TCG Lifesciences commented: “We are indeed excited about this program which involves a challenging new target that could potentially address the vast incidence of nosocomial infections which plague healthcare facilities all over the world. Debiopharm’s developmental expertise combined with our medicinal chemistry capabilities and efficient discovery operations provide an attractive opportunity for accelerated discovery of novel drug candidates for clinical development.”
Antibiotic resistance and nosocomial infection
The CDC estimates that, each year, nearly 2 million people in the United States acquire an infection while in a hospital, resulting in 90,000 deaths.
More than 70 percent of the bacteria that cause these infections are resistant to at least one of the antibiotics commonly used to treat them.
In a report, the European CDC states that at least 25,000 patients in the EU die each year from infections due to bacteria that are resistant to a number of marketed drugs.
