Benzinga | Oct 4, 2021 07:39AM EDT

Oragenics Awarded A $250,000 Grant From The National Institute Of General Medical Sciences For The Continued Research And Development Of Lantibiotics

Oragenics, Inc. (NYSE:OGEN) ("Oragenics" or the "Company") today announced that it was awarded a small business innovation research grant in the amount of $250,000 ("Computer-aided Design for Improved Lantibiotics" R41GM136034) for the Company's continued research and development of lantibiotics, including its collaborative program with the Biomolecular Sciences Institute at Florida International University (FIU). The grant provides Oragenics with funding to develop novel lantibiotics for the treatment of ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp.).

The NIGMS is a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that supports basic research that increases our understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. NIGMS notes that with the ever-increasing problem of antibiotic resistance and the concurrent use of antibiotics in the food chain and in agriculture, there is an urgent and unmet need for new classes of antibiotics.

"We are pleased and honored to receive this non-dilutive funding which supports the Company's efforts in research and development of lantibiotics and provides Oragenics with the opportunity to potentially expand on the identification of compounds that may be effective against life-threatening infections," said Frederick W. Telling, Ph.D., Oragenics' Executive Chairman. Dr. Telling added, "We believe that lantibiotics represent a large untapped pipeline for the development of novel antibiotics. Mutacin 1140 is a lantibiotic discovered by Oragenics, that has provided a basis for the Company's antibiotic research and development and engineering. This funding will support additional molecular modeling efforts and other activities, including in collaboration with FIU, to develop new lantibiotic compounds."