Date: 2013-01-10
Type of information: Grant
Company: Galapagos (Belgium)
Investors: Flemish agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT) (Belgium)
Amount: €2.7 million
Funding type: grant
Planned used: The funds will be used to discover new antibiotic treatments.
Others: Galapagos has been awarded a €2.7 million grant from the Flemish agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT) to discover new antibiotic treatments. In November 2012, Galapagos announced the selection of a candidate drug targeting DNA pol III alpha (DnaE) and which shows strong activity against all tested drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus, including the \'hospital bacterium\' MRSA. In this three-year, IWT-funded project, Galapagos will exploit its know-how in DNA pol III alpha (DnaE) to discover new antibiotic treatments against additional bacterial species beyond what the Company has developed thus far. Galapagos will collaborate on this project with the research groups of Professor Dr Johan Vander Eycken at Ghent University and Professor Dr Wim Versées from the Free University Brussels.
This antibacterial program focuses on blocking the activity of a protein in bacteria, DnaE, that is essential for carrying out their own reproduction. DnaE is ubiquitous and an essential protein in both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, making it a highly desirable target for antibacterial therapy. Molecules active against the DnaE of other individual species will be sought, prioritizing Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterococcus faecium which are amongst those nominated by infectious disease specialists as posing the most urgent medical need. Upon project completion, Galapagos aims to generate at least one novel candidate antibacterial drug.
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
