The Gaithersburg biotech hunting superbugs is raising another $7 million, a precursor to a much larger Series B round on the horizon.
Adaptive Phage Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage company targeting drug-resistant bacteria, has landed $1.75 million from Mayo Clinic — now a lead investor in the $7 million convertible note funding round.
The financing comes after a $7 million round Adaptive Phage closed in October and a recent $10.2 million contract with the Department of Defense. And the company is looking to raise an additional $30 million in a Series B round this year, now in discussions with potential lead investors for that raise, said APT co-founder and CEO Greg Merril in an email. That capital would fuel expansion of the company’s clinical pipeline, pivotal trials and infrastructure growth, he said.
APT has raked in $38 million to date.
The latest financing will enable APT to build up its research and development infrastructure as well as support its current clinical programs, Merril said. It also enables APT and Mayo to initiate a clinical trial, planned for the fall of this year.
That study will use PhageBank, the local company’s collection of viruses that target specific pathogens and kill those bugs. Specifically, the trial focuses on chronic infections following joint replacement surgery, or periprosthetic joint infections. The goal, according to the company, is to take its therapy to market in 2023.
“APT is pleased that Mayo Clinic recognizes the value of phage therapy and its role in treating chronic PJI infection,” Merril said in a statement. “Current standard of care can cost up to $400k per patient and often results in five-year mortality rates comparable to those of colon cancer.”
Mayo’s investment comes amid a collaboration it struck with APT in July to develop and commercialize a test for identifying complex bacterial infections in patients, including antibiotic-resistant infections.
But the pandemic “did throw a wrench into recruitment in Q2,” and put the company a couple of months behind schedule recruiting for another study designed to assess PhageBank’s ability to treat recurring urinary tract infections. But APT has since added PJI treatments to its pipeline and expects recruitment with Mayo Clinic’s study to happen before the end of this year, he said.
The global health crisis has not slowed down hiring. The business is now executing plans to expand its 30-person workforce, aiming to have more than 50 employees by end of year. Open positions include microbiologists, fill and finish technicians, pharmaceutical manufacturing technicians, quality control staff and regulatory personnel.
Editor’s Note: This story first appeared in the Washington Business Journal. It appears here in an abbreviated form. See the original post here.