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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Pherecydes Pharma : DGA funding for evaluating the use of bacteriophages against infected, antibiotic resistant burns

Pherecydes Pharma
January 18, 2012 Paris, France - French defence procurement agency invests EUR 900,000 towards a Pherecydes Pharma managed EUR 1.2-million project -

Pherecydes Pharma, a biotechnology company specialized in the research and development of lytic bacteriophages for both therapeutic and diagnostic purposes, announces that it has received funding of EUR 900,000 from France’s General Directorate for Armaments (Direction Générale de l’Armement - DGA) to part-finance the PACOBURNS project. This project is set up to explore the possibility of using bacteriophages to combat bacterial infections that are resistant to antibiotics, especially skin infections.

The funds invested by the DGA fall within the framework of its RAPID program. The scheme supports dual innovation by small and medium-sized companies through providing financial assistance for projects that have great technological and commercial potential, are innovative in terms of industrial research, and have both military and civilian applications. The Institute of Genetics and Microbiology of the University of Paris XI and the Armed Forces Institute of Biomedical Research (Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées - IRBA) are also involved in this project...


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About Pherecydes Pharma

...Pherecydes Pharma SA specializes in the research and development of lytic bacteriophages (or phages) for both therapeutic and diagnostic applications. The company provides innovative and adaptable solutions to combat multi-resistant bacteria, through developing mixtures of natural phages and their accelerated in vitro evolution. Pherecydes Pharma is the only company currently that has been able to harness this evolution technology, allowing a head start on any given bacterium.

Due to the unique knowledge of the company in the characterization and rapid isolation of natural lytic phages, Pherecydes Pharma has developed a large bank of bacteriophage mixtures for combating infections that are resistant to antibiotics, which have steadily increased in number since the 1980s. In particular, it possesses the world’s largest collection of phages against escherichia coli and is also working on pseudomonas and staphylococci, three bacteria that alone represent over 50 per cent of known infections in industrialized countries...[PDF] Pherecydes Pharma's Press Release -