Benzinga | Aug 2, 2021 08:05AM EDT

Acurx Pharma Wins $500K Grant To Leiden University Medical Center

-Health Holland has awarded a grant of approximately $500,000 USD to Leiden University Medical Center to further study the mechanism of action of pol IIIC inhibitors in scientific collaboration with Acurx Pharmaceuticals

-Innovative research will study 3-dimensional structures of DNA polymerases and their binding interactions with Acurx inhibitors

-The antibacterial molecular target of Acurx's pipeline of novel DNA pol IIIC inhibitors has been clinically validated by ibezapolstat's recent completion of a Ph2a trial in C. difficile Infection (CDI)

-Research outcome intended to accelerate lead product candidate selection for Acurx's ACX-375 program and for other WHO, CDC and FDA high-priority, drug-resistant Gram-positive pathogens where new classes of antibiotics are needed

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Acurx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq ACXP) ("Acurx" or the "Company") a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of antibiotics for difficult-to-treat bacterial infections, announced today that Health Holland has awarded a grant of approximately $500,000 USD to Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and, through a three-party Consortium Agreement, Acurx Pharmaceuticals. This grant will fund an innovative research project entitled: Bad bugs, new drugs: structural elucidation of polymerase C* from multidrug resistant organisms to guide optimization of a new class of therapeutics.

Dr.Wiep Klaas Smits, Associate Professor, LUMC Department of Medical Microbiology will be the lead researcher in collaboration with Dr. Meindert Lamers, Associate Professor, LUMC Department of Cell and Chemical Biology.

Dr. Smits stated: "This collaborative grant opportunity will be a novel scientific accomplishment contributing to Acurx programs by enhancing knowledge of the structure of pol IIIC from different pathogenic, multidrug-resistant organisms. Additionally, we will study the binding of Acurx drug candidates in complex with pol IIIC enzymes to establish a detailed in vitro characterization of polymerase and inhibiting activity." He further stated: "This work will lead to important insights into differences between replicative polymerases of critical drug-resistant Gram-positive pathogens and pave the way for rational design of novel inhibitors based on structure-activity relationships in the future."

Acurx is commencing a Ph2b clinical trial in patients with CDI during the second half of this year after having recently completed a Ph2a clinical trial which demonstrated that 10 of 10 patients with CDI (100%) met the study's primary and secondary efficacy endpoints of Clinical Cure at end of treatment and Sustained Clinical Cure with no recurrence of CDI at the 28-day follow-up visit. These results have validated the therapeutic effect of DNA pol IIIC as a bacterial target.

Robert J. DeLuccia, Executive Chairman of Acurx, stated "We believe this state-of-the-art structural biology research, which includes crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy, can be translated into chemical synthesis strategies to develop an innovative portfolio of novel inhibitors of DNA polymerases of target organisms with our GPSS(tm) (Gram-positive Selective Spectrum) antibiotic candidates". He further stated: "This could lead to identification of selective inhibitors for serious Gram-positive pathogens, particularly MRSA, VRE and PRSP, offering more opportunities to enhance our development pipeline and to expand the treatment options with new classes of antibiotics for multi-drug resistant bacterial infections."

*"pol C" is alternative nomenclature for "pol IIIC"