Building upon the company’s unique expertise in developing pharma grade probiotics, Infant Bacterial Therapeutics AB (IBT) has secured an exclusive global license from the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) to a technology platform consisting of genetically modified bacteria. IBT will investigate how to develop a pharma grade probiotic based on this platform that addresses the growing problem of hospital acquired infections, which are responsible for high morbidity and mortality rates.
Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerous levels across the world, including hospital acquired infections caused by vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). VRE infections have become a serious public health challenge linked with the complexities of antibiotic resistance, resulting in 54,000 cases and 5,000 deaths among hospitalized patients in the United States alone. VRE infections are estimated to cause direct annual U.S. healthcare costs of $539M.
“We are now investigating if, and if so how, we can contribute to the care of these patients in alternate pathways to avoid adding further antibiotic resistance. This new opportunity builds on our current focus on IBP-9414, which remains the same, and leverages the pharma grade probiotic leadership and expertise we have established over the last 10 years. We expect to complete IBP-9414 recruitment with existing capital, and are concurrently exploring this new platform with minimum financial exposure”,
says Staffan Strömberg, Chief Executive Officer, IBT.
“Combining MCW’s technology with IBT’s expertise in developing bacterial-based therapies presents a significant opportunity to develop new options for combating hospital acquired infections. This opportunity exemplifies MCW’s commitment to translating our knowledge into innovative patient care and pursuing a healthier world. We are eager to see IBT’s further development of this bacterial technology that was invented by Drs. Nita Salzman, Chris Kristich, and Sushma Kommineni in the departments of Pediatrics and Microbiology & Immunology here at MCW”,
says Ann Nattinger, MD, MPH, MACP, Associate for Research at MCW.