The raise, which comprises; contributions from valued existing investor Oxford Technology Management (OTM), OTM’s Wider Oxford Technology Angel Network (WOTAN) and a highly successful crowdfunding campaign run in collaboration with Republic Europe, marks a significant milestone for the spinout. The funds raised will accelerate the development of a therapeutic platform that addresses one of the biggest threats to global health, antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
MetalloBio spun out from the University of Sheffield in 2021, and has since created over 55 new antibacterial compounds and raised over £1.269M in grants and £705k in equity. The company was co-founded by the late Dr Kirsty Smitten and Professor Jim Thomas from the Department of Chemistry.
MetalloBio is turning its academic research into a sustainable company with real-world impact by developing antimicrobial platform technology to both prevent and treat antimicrobial-resistant infections.
AMR is a global crisis responsible for over a million deaths annually, with a patient in the US dying every fifteen minutes from a drug-resistant infection. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are on the front lines of this battle, representing a massive health burden fueled by high recurrence and failing treatments.
1 in 4 people who stay in hospital will have a urinary catheter fitted. In more than half of these cases, catheterisation will result in an infection and in the US alone, this amounts to over 500,000 catheterised hospital patients with UTIs every year.
MetalloBio is developing novel antimicrobial catheter coatings and new, effective, broad-spectrum antibiotics to clear stubborn infections at the source.
Their innovations aim to protect the hundreds of thousands of hospital patients who suffer from catheter-associated UTIs (CAUTIs) each year.
Existing antibiotics are often limited by their historical designs, allowing bacteria to develop resistance rapidly. This poses a severe risk to routine surgery, cancer treatments, and general healthcare. Through its innovative chemistry, MetalloBio has developed over 45 new antibacterial compounds that resist bacterial adaptation in extensive studies.
Further, in a laboratory setting, their antibacterial materials have proven up to 80,000 times more effective than currently marketed products.
The funding raised will be deployed to achieve several critical pre-clinical R&D and commercial milestones, including; establishing safe dose levels and completing essential toxicology testing, developing a comprehensive clinical trial strategy alongside regulatory experts and executing a licensing campaign for the company’s proprietary antimicrobial coatings and materials.
Dr Michael Murray, CEO of MetalloBio, said: “Securing this funding is a pivotal moment for MetalloBio as we work to fill a dangerous 50 year gap in antibiotic innovation. With these funds, we can accelerate our lead compounds through critical safety testing, moving us closer to delivering life-saving systemic treatments for patients who have exhausted all other options.”
Dr Richard Senior, COO of MetalloBio, said: “We’d like to thank everyone who donated during this crowdfunding campaign. This investment allows us to refine our industrial scale-up and licensing strategy, ensuring our protective materials can be deployed globally to safeguard hundreds of thousands of catheterised patients from avoidable complications.”