SAN DIEGO, May 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Sorrento
Therapeutics, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SRNE) today announced that
it has received an Advanced Technology Small Business Technology
Transfer Research (STTR) grant from the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The peer-reviewed grant was
awarded to support the Company’s program to generate and develop
novel antibody therapeutics and vaccines to combat
Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus or “Staph”)
infections, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus
(MRSA), by disrupting quorum sensing, a bacterial communication
process essential to virulence. The Phase I grant is for $300,000 annually for two years, with the
possibility of Phase II funding of $1
million per year for up to 3 years.
“It is clear that the NIH is highly motivated to fund novel
approaches to tackling the serious healthcare burden of MRSA. We
believe our program to develop potential vaccines and antibody
therapeutics against MRSA holds great clinical promise because of
the high morbidity and mortality caused by this pathogen and the
limited treatment options available today,” said Antonius Schuh,
Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sorrento
Therapeutics.
Sorrento Therapeutics’ MRSA program targets specific
auto-inducing peptides (AIPs) central to the quorum sensing system
of S. aureus, which induces bacterial virulence.
Masking these AIPs leads to a disruption of bacterial communication
(“quorum quenching”) and suppresses virulence. In recommending the
grant application for funding, expert panel reviewers noted that
targeting quorum sensing and the virulence factors of S.
aureus represented a paradigm shift, which could result in
fewer side effects than conventional drug therapies. Th
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