Intralytix Receives Fast Track NIH SBIR Contract to Develop a Universal, Scale-independent AI-based Platform for Manufacturing High Titer Bacteriophage Preparations for Clinical Applications
Columbia, Maryland, USA. – August 16, 2021 – Intralytix, Inc. announced today that it has received a Phase I award in the amount of $299,672 with an option for a Phase II award in the amount of $1,498,045.
This award is made through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program under a Fast-Track Phase I / Phase II program providing for up to $1.8 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH). This NIAID-funded project will leverage Intralytix’s existing proprietary PhageSelector™ program, big data, and manufacturing know-how along with machine learning to create an artificial intelligence (AI)-based universal manufacturing platform, the PhageEngine™, to deliver methods for producing high titer, high quality bacteriophage preparations suitable for clinical applications.
Dr. Alexander Sulakvelidze, President and CEO of Intralytix and the Principal Investigator of the SBIR contract, commented, “Interest in therapeutic phage applications is steadily growing worldwide. This is driven primarily by increasing antibiotic resistance (and the resulting need for alternative treatment strategies to manage drug-resistant infections) and by the exploding field of microbiome research (and the resulting need for approaches to help modulate the microbiome for various health benefits) – and the growing appreciation that phage technology can help address both of these needs. Having well characterized libraries of lytic bacteriophages and the technology to rapidly scale up their production to yield high titer, high quality phage preparations are some of the most critical factors for successful implementation of phage therapy in real life.” Dr. Sulakvelidze concluded, “We are very pleased to enter into this collaboration with the NIH. We believe that the resulting technology will significantly increase Intralytix’s capabilities as well as help advance the phage biocontrol / phage therapy field in general, and will ultimately have a very significant positive impact on public health.”
Read the full article at: intralytix.com
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