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news.The National Institute of Health (NIH) has awarded a sum of $986,000 as a Phase 2 grant to PolyMedix to support the development of defensin mimetic antimicrobial compounds for the treatment of oral candidiasis.
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PolyMedix’s lead small molecule defensin-mimetic antibiotic compound is PMX-30063.
PolyMedix’s small molecule defensin-mimetic antimicrobial compounds are designed to mimic human host defense proteins, the body’s natural defense against bacterial infections.
The primary goal of this grant is to determine the optimal compounds and conditions under which PolyMedix’s defensin mimetic antimicrobials can be applied to oral mucosa in order to efficiently clear an oral Candida infection.
PolyMedix Research vice president Richard Scott said that they believe their small molecule defensin mimetic compounds represent a novel approach to developing new agents to treat these painful and sometimes life-threatening infections, with the important advantage of limited opportunity for the development of resistance.
"Several of our defensin-mimetic antimicrobial compounds have demonstrated promising activity against fungal strains that often cause human infectious diseases and are resistant to existing anti-fungal agents," Scott said.
"With this funding from the NIH we are able to continue our research in developing a compound to potentially address this major medical need."