Motif Bio to list on AIM to progress novel antibiotic

UK based Motif Bio has announced its intention to list on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) to raise at least £4 million ($6 million) through a placing of new ordinary shares.

Motif is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company which specializes in developing novel antibiotics designed to be effective against serious and life-threatening infections caused by multi-drug resistant bacteria. The company has a lead antibiotic candidate, iclaprim, in clinical development and MTF-001, a preclinical stage program to design a best-in-class dihydrofolate reductase inhibitor (DHFRi). Discussions and negotiations with academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies are under way to build a portfolio of antibiotic candidates through licensing. Iclaprim could be ready for commercialization within approximately 36 months.

The funding aims to advance the group’s drug development program, in particular iclaprim and MTF- 001; confirm in meetings with the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency in the first half of 2015 that the clinical development plan for iclaprim meets regulatory guidelines and that two Phase III trials can be conducted as proposed; and to provide the Group with additional working capital for at least 18 months.