Genome BC has agreed to fund research by Vancouver biotechnology company Indel Therapeutics Inc. to combat drug-resistant pathogens.
The study is expected to take up to 18 months, employ at least three people and likely cost less than $1 million.
“We’re developing new antibiotics that will work against antibiotic-resistant strains of pathogens,” Malcolm Kendall, CEO of Indel Therapeutics Inc., told Business in Vancouver September 11.
“They could be super-powerful but, more accurately, they will not be affected by the mechanisms of resistance [that the pathogens currently use to resist antibiotics].”
Genome BC is awarding funding to University of British Columbia scientist Neil Reiner, who is Indel’s chief scientific officer, as well as to Simon Fraser University scientist Fiona Brinkman.
Reiner and Brinkman will work with Indel Therapeutics to identify novel drug targets and therapeutics for antibiotic-resistant hospital-acquired infections that address the ongoing issue of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens.
