elusys.com
Elusys Overview
Elusys Therapeutics, Inc. is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of targeted anti-infective therapeutics using proprietary Heteropolymer (HP) Antibodies for the treatment of infectious disease. The Company’s most advanced product, Anthim™, a treatment for Anthrax infection, has entered Phase I human safety studies. Anthim represents a near-term revenue opportunity as it is a strong candidate for purchase by the U.S. Government under Project BioShield.
Elusys’ HP antibody technology has demonstrated a unique ability to clear and destroy pathogens and provides a platform to develop a deep pipeline of novel drug candidates targeted against bacterial, viral and fungal infections. ETI-211, a pre-clinical drug for the treatment of antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infections, has shown significant efficacy in animal studies and is expected to enter the clinic in 2007.
===========================================================
NJ Biotech Enters Infectious Disease Deal With Pfizer
djones
TRENTON, N.J. (AP)--A small biotech company developing drugs that use
antibodies to target nasty germs said Thursday it has partnered with Pfizer Inc.
(PFE) to create medicines to treat life-threatening infections, starting with
drug-resistant staph cases.
Initially, Elusys Therapeutics Inc.. of Montville, will test its experimental
drug against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections, or MRSA.
The increasingly common infection resists treatment by nearly all antibiotics
and kills about 12,000 Americans each year. Federal statistics show that MRSA
cases account for more than half the infections in U.S. hospital intensive-care
units, strike about 300,000 people a year and cost, on average, more than $48,
000 to treat.
"It's two to three times more expensive to treat a MRSA infection than it is
to treat another infection," said Elizabeth Posillico, president and chief
executive of privately held Elusys.
New York-based Pfizer, the world's largest drug company, has given Elusys an
undisclosed, upfront cash investment and is funding several positions for
researchers working on the project, she said.
"If all sales and clinical development milestones are met, this deal exceeds $
200 million in value," Posillico told the Associated Press.
The experimental drug contains two chemically coupled antibodies. One binds to
the target, in this case the MRSA bacterium, and the other to a red blood cell,
which then ferries the entire complex to the liver, where it is destroyed.
The as-yet-unnamed drug, which also will be tested against other bacterial and
viral infections, has been effective in killing MRSA in mice, and Elusys hopes
to start testing in people by late 2008. Approval of any drug is likely more
than five years away, Posillico said.
Research is much further along on Anthim, an antibody-based compound designed
to treat anthrax infections by binding to toxins released by the deadly
bacteria, gobble them up and clear them from the body. It was found to be safe
when tested in healthy volunteers and, after further testing on anthrax-infected
animals, the company could start selling the drug by the end of this year to the
federal government, Posillico said.
The Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health have given the
company nearly $20 million over several years to help fund the research on the
anthrax drug, she said.
Pfizer did not immediately return a call seeking comment. |
