Sept 12 (Askume) – F2G said on Thursday it has raised $100 million from investors including the AMR Action Fund and has the backing of big drugmakers including Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer to help develop drug-resistant medicines to treat infections caused by “superbugs,” or microorganisms.
The financing also includes an investment from Novo Holdings, which owns a controlling stake in Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO). The latest round of funding will help the British company complete global late-stage studies of its lead drug, olorofim.
The drug is being developed to treat invasive fungal infections, including aspergillosis, a rare infection that is resistant to antifungal drugs.
The US Food and Drug Administration rejected the drug last year, citing the need for more data after interim trials.
F2G Chief Financial Officer Ralf Schmid said ongoing late-stage studies of the drug could also help it gain approval in Europe and Asia.
Schmid said olorofim could be launched in the United States “as early as 2026” and have peak sales of more than $1 billion.
The pipeline of new antibiotics and antifungals has suffered a number of setbacks in the past few years amid a wave of bankruptcies of smaller biotech companies due to poor investment.
In 2020, 20 major pharmaceutical manufacturers established the AMR Action Fund to expand the R&D pipeline of antifungals and antibiotics, with the goal of bringing four new antibiotics to market by 2030.
AMR Action Fund led F2G’s latest funding round, with other investors including ICG Life Sciences and Advent Life Sciences.
Henry Skinner, chief executive of the AMR Action Fund, said the drug has a new mechanism of action, which is important for anti-infection treatments because microorganisms can become resistant to older drugs.
Olorofim “can also target many of the fungi that are becoming a bigger problem with global warming and climate change,” Skinner said.
