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news.Sorrento Therapeutics has received an advanced technology small business technology transfer research (STTR) grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop antibody therapeutics and vaccines to combat methicillin-resistant S aureus (MRSA), by disrupting quorum sensing, a bacterial communication process essential to virulence.
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Sorrento Therapeutics will receive a total of $600,000, $300,000 annually for two years as Phase I grant.
The company will also receive $1m per year for up to 3 years as Phase II funding.
The company’s MRSA program targets specific auto-inducing peptides (AIPs) central to the quorum sensing system of S aureus, which induces bacterial virulence.
The expert panel reviewers noted that targeting quorum sensing and the virulence factors of S aureus represented a paradigm shift, which results in fewer side effects than conventional drug therapies.
Sorrento Therapeutics Interim CEO and CSO Henry Ji said in view of this second grant award, it is clear that the NIH remains motivated to fund the approach of quorum quenching they licensed from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) to tackle the serious healthcare burden of Staph aureus infections.
Sorrento Therapeutics Board member and TSRI professor Kim Janda said they look forward to work with their colleagues at Sorrento Therapeutics, Scripps and Montana State University in developing novel antibody therapeutics and vaccines against MRSA.