Spin-out restores antibiotic action

A spin-out company from the John Innes plant and microbial science centre in Norwich has won funding for technology that restores antibiotic action against various superbugs.

Procarta’s technology could restore antibiotic action against vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus

Procarta Biosystems has received £320,000 from the Rainbow Seed Fund and the Iceni Seedcorn Fund to develop its Transcription Factor Decoys (TFD). TFD technology is an injectable DNA therapy which inactivates the resistance genes that bacteria use to evade the effects of antibiotics such as vancomycin and methicillin.
Procarta believes that its proprietary technology will improve the efficacy of existing drugs and prolong the commercial usefulness of antibiotic treatments. Michael McArthur and Mervyn Bibb, co-founders of Procarta, estimate their first product will enter pre-clinical trials in 2009, after which they intend to introduce the product to the market.
Having established the proof of concept with vancomycin, Procarta aims to extend the product pipeline and optimise the use of a wide range of antibiotics using TFD technology. MacArthur said: “We plan to be able to use this latest and valuable support to further validate the outstanding potential of our proprietary approach to combating resistant superbugs.”
Mark White, of the Rainbow Seed Fund, said: “We have worked alongside the John Innes Centre and its commercialisation arm Plant Bioscience Ltd for some time and have a high regard for their ability to spot promising commercial opportunities.”

Adding: “In Procarta’s case we were particularly impressed by the skills of the key people involved as well as the scale of the opportunity.”