Cambridge UK, 2nd January 2015 – Bactevo, the Industrial Biotechnology company, is pleased to announce its expansion into the pharmaceutical therapeutics market. This expansion means that the company’s powerful TarGET platform will now be used both to create new medicines in key disease areas of unmet need as well as continuing to develop high value processes for sustainable chemical production.
Combined with proprietary rapid high-throughput screening technologies Bactevo is utilising its proprietary molecular engineering technologies, known as TarGET, in the genome-wide exploitation of many different microbes for the synthesis of novel compounds to search for therapeutically useful agents. With an experienced Biotech/Pharma management team and exceptional scientific pedigree, the company’s objective is to discover novel microbial-derived compounds with strong efficacy in key therapeutic areas and in appropriate instances develop them with strategic partners.
“Historically, microbes have been successful in giving the world new antibiotics and cancer therapies, but their discovery, using existing methods, has been analogous to ‘panning for gold’. We feel our new approach is akin to finding a fully stocked gold mine with potential medicines for many diseases, which as well as infectious disease and cancer, includes Alzheimer’s disease and Diabetes. We look forward to pursuing this research both internally and with partners to bring much-needed treatments to patients.” said David Williams, co-founder and Managing Director of Bactevo.
Tim Bullock of New Wave Ventures and Bactevo Chairman commented: “This is a really exciting growth area for us here at Bactevo. The past year has seen our scientists making enormous advances in the reach of our technology, so that we now feel we can make a difference in the discovery of new medicines. These advances mean that we can now unlock and identify the hidden potential of microbial-derived drugs.”
Contact:
David Williams, PhD
Managing Director
Bactevo Ltd
Tel: +44(0)1223 423506
david.williams@bactevo.com
About TarGET
The TarGET (Targeted Genomic Evolution Technologies) platform exploits the huge advances continuing in next generation sequencing technologies combined with high-throughput functional generation of genomic variation, analysis and intelligent algorithms. This gives us an unparalleled understanding of the internal process within a microbe necessary to survive in diverse environments and perform specific functions optimally. Proprietary, rapid, high-throughput screening technologies then allows library screening of microbial-derived compounds from a diverse range of microorganisms for therapeutic targets.