Spexis announces sale of preclinical antibiotics program to Basilea - Seite 2

Jeff Wager, MD, Chairman & CEO of Spexis, said: “This transaction with Basilea underscores the power of our macrocycle platform as a drug discovery platform and its potential to generate products that can address significant unmet medical needs.  Furthermore, from a corporate strategy perspective, this transaction represents a continuation of our focus to partner or divest programs and assets not central to our rare disease and oncology focus as we pursue an exit from our moratorium status. The assets sold to Basilea are a novel class of antibiotics discovered and optimized using Spexis’ proprietary macrocycle platforms and methodologies.  In this case, the compounds derivatized target the lipopolysaccharide transport in Gram-negative bacteria which have been highlighted by the World Health Organization as priority pathogens against which new antibiotics are urgently needed. ”

Basilea is acquiring all program compounds, including intellectual property, and is paying Spexis up to a total of CHF 2 million, which consists of an upfront payment, a payment related to the near-term transfer of the assets to Basilea, and a potential final milestone payment related to the availability of near-term external funding for the further development of the program. In addition, Basilea is assuming the rights and obligations of Spexis related to the program, including potential low single-digit percentage royalties on sales, under licensing agreements. The transaction is subject to the approval by the Western District Court of the Canton Basel-Landschaft.

About multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria

Infections by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) are a major challenge for healthcare professionals. Due to an additional outer cell membrane compared to Gram-positive bacteria, it is more difficult for antibiotics to get into the cell. In addition, this outer membrane carries lipopolysaccharides/endotoxins which induce inflammation and play an important amplifying role in the pathogenesis of infections by GNB and are therefore considered an important virulence factor. Moreover, GNB can acquire resistance to several classes of antibiotics such as carbapenems, fluoroquinolones, tetracyclines and earlier-generation cephalosporins, making infections with GNBs particularly difficult to treat. In 2017, the World Health Organization published a list of 12 classes of priority bacterial pathogens that pose the greatest threat to human health, of which nine classes are Gram-negative.³