Nosopharm selected for French Tech Health20 program

28/03/2023

Specialized in R&D of new anti-infective drugs, Nosopharm is currently open to industrial and academic partnerships to pursue development of innovative pipeline to fight antibiotic resistance

 Lyon, France, March 28, 2023 – Nosopharm, specialized in exploring unconventional sources of antibiotics to discover new drugs to fight antimicrobial resistance, today announces that it has been selected for the new French Tech Health20 program. The class of 2023 includes 21 innovative French companies in biotech, medtech and digital health.

The French Tech Health20 initiative supports high-potential French start-ups that meet a common objective: accelerating innovation to help France gain technological, industrial and health sovereignty. It will support these start-ups in their development and scaling-up. It covers the ‘Health Innovation 2030’ priority areas, in close collaboration with the French Health Innovation Agency. Selection was based on the criteria of economic and technological potential.

Nosopharm’s technology pertains to the priority area of the fight against emerging infectious diseases; aimed at understanding, preventing and controlling the phenomena of emergence or re-emergence of health crises.

“We are thrilled to join the French Tech Health20 program, which perfectly illustrates the long-term support for innovation carried out by the French government. This is specifically designed to help groundbreaking start-ups like Nosopharm gain global credibility and visibility. As the WHO regularly points out, the fight against infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance remains a major universal public health issue; it is crucial to support research and development so that we can create effective treatments for patients with life-threatening bacterial infections,” said Philippe Villain-Guillot, co-founder and president of the board of Nosopharm.

Nosopharm is actively looking to establish new strategic partnerships with public and private organizations. To date, the company has raised a total of €5.9M ($6.4M) in private equity and €8.7M ($9.4M) in non-dilutive funding.

Nosopharm is developing a pipeline of innovative anti-infectives to fight antibiotic resistance and infectious diseases. Its R&D programs are based on the pharmacological exploitation of Photorhabdus and Xenorhabdus, two bacteria with very high potential for anti-infective applications. Its lead program, NOSO-502, a first-in-class antibiotic for the treatment of multidrug-resistant hospital-acquired infections, has shown positive results in its preclinical toxicology studies. NOSO-502 is intended for the treatment of the main nosocomial infections caused by the multiresistant enterobacteriaceae Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterobacter spp.

The WHO listed Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) as one of the top ten global public health threats facing humanity. This is a growing global concern, costing an estimated 1.27 million lives in 2019, with multidrug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens accounting for 59% of these. Gram-negative bacteria are widely regarded as the main source of danger to patients. It has been more than 40 years since the last introduction into clinical use of a new class of antibiotics active against these pathogens. If successful, the clinical use of NOSO-502 will give physicians a new option for the treatment of patients with life-threatening bacterial infections, avoiding a therapeutic dead-end.

More info about the French Tech Health20 initiative

About Nosopharm

Nosopharm is an innovative biotechnology company specialized in anti-infective drug discovery. The company discovers and develops new anti-infective drugs to combat antimicrobial resistance and infectious diseases. Nosopharm developed a unique drug discovery platform based on the biomining of the bacteria Photorhabdus and Xenorhabdus. Nosopharm is the only biotech company to explore these two high-potential bacteria for anti-infective applications.

Founded in 2009, Nosopharm is headquartered in Lyon, France, and employs a highly-skilled team of eight. To date, the company has raised a total of €5.9M ($6.4M) in private equity and €8.7M ($9.4M) in non-dilutive funding from France Relance, Bpifrance, IMI and IMI2, the French Ministry of Defense, Region Languedoc-Roussillon and FEDER.

www.nosopharm.com