EIT Health-supported PhagoMed acquired by BioNTech
BioNTech acquired PhagoMed, a start-up supported by EIT Health. PhagoMed is developing novel synthetic lysin technology for precision antimicrobial treatments and was accelerated by EIT Health under its Gold Track programme.
According to the World Health Organisation, Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health and development threat requiring urgent action. AMR is caused by certain bacteria becoming resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics available today, due to overuse and misuse. A growing list of infections are becoming harder, and sometimes, impossible to treat, as antibiotics become less effective. Amongst other actions, new therapies to treat infections are needed to reduce the threat.
“Antimicrobial resistance is a huge concern for public health all over the world. Science and innovation is needed to find new and alternative solutions to antibiotics that are losing effectiveness, as we have seen from the last two years that we are not safe from infectious diseases. We saw great potential in PhagoMed to contribute towards solving this problem. We are honoured to have supported the innovative science and talented team at PhagoMed within our Gold Track Programme, and we congratulate them on their achievement”.
Jan-Philipp Beck, CEO of EIT Health
PhagoMed use lysins to fight bacterial infections as an alternative to antibiotics. Lysins are enzymes produced by bacteriophages – the most abundant and diverse entity on earth that break down bacterial cell walls and thereby kill bacteria. Lysins are also very precise, meaning they selectively kill only specific groups of bacteria. PhagoMed’s Lysin Builder platform enables the development of synthetic lysins resulting in a novel class of targeted antibacterials and the potential to revolutionise the treatment of bacterial infections.
“We are thrilled to partner with BioNTech to further advance our synthetic lysin technology to address pressing health challenges. We thank the team and our mentors at EIT Health Gold Track for their support to help us refine our pipeline, platform and business model that enabled us to achieve our critical business goals in this short timeline.”
Alexander Belcredi and Lorenzo Corsini, co-CEOs of PhagoMed
Vienna-based PhagoMed joined the Gold Track programme in June 2020 with a strong team and a promising idea, and were supported over a period of 12 months with defining their strategy and business model to accelerate them towards commercial success.
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