BRIEF—PhagoMed raises 4 million euros for virus-based superbug therapies

Vienna-based biotech company PhagoMed Biopharma has attracted 4 million euros ($4.7 million) in funding to develop alternative therapies to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The money, a combination of grants and private investments, will be used to develop virus-based, or phage-based, therapies against bacterial infections, in particular the pre-clinical development of three drug candidates.

Phages are a specific class of viruses which can infect and destroy bacteria, regarded by the firm as a promising alternative to combat so-called ‘superbugs’ that are resistant to traditional antibiotics.

Co-founder Burkhard Wippermann said, “Phages are able to destroy bacteria effectively by using a mechanism of action regardless of a resistance to antibiotics.”

“Studies and experimental treatments performed by us and colleagues have shown that phages are able to succeed where antibiotics have previously failed.”