Platform 2: Hits to Leads

Speeding up the response to pandemics and creating new treatments to tackle the increasing global threat of drug resistance are the main focus areas in Platform Two. The work is led by Infex Therapeutics and provides a subsidised, cost- effective mechanism to accelerate the progress of novel therapies.

Infex, based at Alderley Park in Cheshire, is a clinical-stage company that has a range of projects in advanced stages of development. Its lead clinical Phase 2 project is RESP-X, a novel humanised monoclonal antibody. RESP-X is designed to help the body tackle Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) infection, a hard-to-treat drug-resistant pathogen which causes chronic and debilitating respiratory disease. No approved treatments currently exist. RESP-X does not kill the bacteria directly but deactivates one of its critical mechanisms, enabling the immune system to clear the infection.

The iiCON-backed project has progressed to a Phase 2a clinical trial in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (NCFB) patients, which are being conducted by another iiCON partner, National Institute for Health and Care Research Liverpool and Broadgreen Clinical Research Facility, part of the Liverpool University Foundation Hospital Trust.

Dr Peter Jackson, Executive Director of Infex Therapeutics, said: “RESP-X has huge potential to improve the outcomes for patients suffering from this debilitating disease. The successful Phase 1 study assessed the safety and tolerability of RESP-X in a cohort of healthy volunteers and informed the dosing in the ongoing Phase 2a trial with patients. RESP-X has huge potential to improve the outcomes for millions of patients worldwide.”

Infex is also set to put a second program into clinic – MET-X, which targets urinary tract infections caused by WHO critical-priority resistant Gram-negative bacteria. MET-X is a novel therapy designed to help restore the function of antibiotics that have become ineffective because of drug resistance created by the spread of MBL enzymes.

Professor Janet Hemingway: “The Infex team is tackling head-on areas of unmet clinical need and producing exciting science and novel therapies that could make a huge difference to patients.”

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Email Dr Lizzie Crawford