Earlier this month, Jersey City, NJ-based Scynexis announced its partnership with both Hackensack Meridian CDI, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to develop proprietary triterpenoid antifungals from the company’s platform. This part of a new accelerator consortium led by researchers from CDI and Johns Hopkins, and will contain a 5-year federal grant to establish a Center of Excellence in Translational Research (CETR). This center will contain the aforementioned research centers and other academic and commercial collaborators, and expects to receive about $7 million annually, contingent upon the availability of funds, with the support coming from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). 1
“We are very pleased to collaborate with this CETR in tackling one of the world’s most pressing health threats,” Scynexis CEO David Angulo, MD, said in statement.1
One of the key aspects of this research will be around resistant fungal infections according to Angulo. “With approximately four million annual deaths attributable to fungal infections globally, this new grant from the NIH provides essential funding to support the development of new therapeutics that can address the growing threat from resistant fungal infections,” he said.
What You Need to Know
Scynexis, Hackensack Meridian CDI, and Johns Hopkins have joined a new CETR consortium supported by an annual approximate $7 million NIAID grant to accelerate development of next-generation triterpenoid antifungals.
The collaboration will advance preclinical triterpenoid antifungal candidates with activity against resistant fungi, building on the potential of oral and IV glucan synthase inhibitors that are structurally distinct from existing classes.
With ibrexafungerp now transferred and licensed to GSK, Scynexis is focusing on developing second-generation fungerps to address invasive fungal disease and meet the growing global need for new antifungal therapeutics.
About Triterpenoid Antifungals
Triterpenoid antifungals (fungerps) are a novel class of structurally-distinct glucan synthase inhibitors. These agents combine the well-established activity of glucan synthase inhibitors with the potential flexibility of having oral and intravenous (IV) formulations.
“As part of this research collaboration, we are pleased to note that a series of next-generation fungerp candidates are included, with the aim to progress their development from early preclinical stage to IND ready candidates,” Angulo said.1
In a previous interview with Contagion, Angulo spoke about triterpenoids and its goals for this class of compounds.