Amprologix

Amprologix is a University of Plymouth spin-out . Amprologix was established to develop the work of Professor Mathew Upton, professor of Medical Microbiology. The company aims to introduce new classes of antibiotics to help tackle the threat of antimicrobial resistance. Amprologix has secured industry involvement through a partnership with Ingenza. Ingenza's biologics manufacturing platform will be used to enable viable production at scale.

Ingenza is taking an equity stake in Amprologix, as is Frontier IP, a research commercialization enterprise in the U.K., and UMI3 Ltd, the research commercialization organization at University of Manchester. Frontier IP's stake in Amprologix is 10 percent, while the equity holdings by Igenza and UMI3 were not disclosed.

Amprologix is the second company founded by Upton. In 2014, he started Spectromics, based in Manchester, developing a diagnostic technology to determine appropriate dosages for antibiotics, and prevent overuse of the drugs.

Upton’s research group analyses bacteria genomes to identify patterns that offer targets for new antibiotic drugs. They discovered bacteriocins, antimicrobial peptides produced by bacteria. Epidermicin is a bacteriocin derived from natural skin bacteria. It was shown in lab rats to kill methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. Amprologix plans to develop other antibiotic classes and to enhance the antimicrobial properties of bacteriocins using artificial intelligence and synthetic biology approaches.

Epidermicins are a new class of antibiotics capable of tackling MRSA and related superbugs at very low doses. The first product from the company is expected to be a cream containing epidermicin, which can rapidly kill harmful bacteria, including MRSA, Streptococcus and Entercoccus at very low doses.

Amprologix was awarded a £1.2 million contract from the UK Department of Health and Social Care to accelerate the development and scale up its lead antibiotic candidate, Epidermicin NI01. The funding, administered by Innovate UK, is intended to advance Epidermicin NI01 which is part of a new family of epidermicin-based antibiotics expected to be ready for Phase I clinical trials by early 2021. With this funding, Amprologix will optimise the formulation of Epidermicin NI01 as a cream to decolonise the nasal cavity of MRSA. A preclinical toxicology evaluation will be conducted.