PolyMedix secures funding for novel antibiotic

PolyMedix plans to file an investigational new drug (IND) application and to initiate human clinical trials of the compound later this year. In addition, the company plans to seek a series C financing this year, the proceeds of which will be used to fund clinical development of its antibiotic drug compounds.

PolyMedix develops biomimetics – novel non-peptide small molecule drugs which mimic the activity of proteins, but will be inexpensive to make and formulate into drugs. To design these compounds PolyMedix uses a proprietary computational drug design technology developed at and licensed from the University of Pennsylvania.

The first products PolyMedix has developed with the computational technology are novel small molecule antibiotic drug candidates. To develop these compounds, PolyMedix imitated nature and mimicked the activity of host defense proteins, one of the oldest and most effective antimicrobial defense systems in virtually all living creatures.

Unlike conventional antibiotic drugs, PolyMedix’s antimicrobial compounds work by a novel mechanism which directly lyses bacterial cell membranes. They thus have the potential to be rapid acting broad-spectrum antibiotic drugs for which bacterial resistance is very unlikely to occur.

PolyMedix is also developing polymer derivatives of these antibiotic compounds. These polymers may be used as additives to paints, plastics, and textiles to create self-sterilizing antimicrobial products and surfaces.