DNA Companion Therapeutics for AMR Inactivation in Pathogenic Bacteria

Nemesis Bioscience believes that any attempt to kill bacteria directly will only result in selection for resistance and that the answer to the problem of AMR is to switch off resistance via an agent which will not kill bacteria directly – leaving the killing to be done by subsequent treatment with antibiotics. The company has proved it can do so effectively both in vitro and in vivo.

The Nemesis approach can not only be used for existing AMR infections, but also for blocking horizontal resistance-gene transfer in bacteria – offering the potential for prevention of infection with AMR bacteria. Nemesis technology uses modified, multiplexed CRISPR constructs – the first of which is able to inactivate resistance to more than 100 commonly used beta-lactamase antibiotic resistance genes. The company aims to produce products that can be used as a pre-treatment for AMR infections to re-sensitise the causal bacteria to existing antibiotics and also to work with pharma companies to produce Nemesis Symbiotics that will protect newly developed anti-infectives from resistance.

The company has secured and successfully completed two Innovate UK grants to bring its technolgy to its current stage - in 2015 a Proof of Market award of £24,000 (Ref: 70577) and in 2017 an Investment Accelerator Pilot - Stream 2 award (with the Rainbow Seed Fund) of £150,000 (Ref: 133343). Funding for the proposed project will enable us demonstrate that we can re-engineer our Symbiotics to target the delivery of these DNA-based companion therapeutics for inactivation of resistance to multiple classes of beta lactam antibiotics in several clinically and economically important pathogenic bacteria.

This work will help in the identification of the company's first putative "lead" product and thereafter in the development of a large pipeline of Symbiotic products. The company's products will have significantly shorter development times than existing antimicrobials. To date the company has raised funds from its founders, Angel investors, the Rainbow Seed Fund (now UKI2S), The Development Bank of Wales and most recently from Shionogi & Co. The company won the King's College, Cambridge Entrepreneurship Award for 2014