TFF Pharmaceuticals and Felix Biotechnology have signed a non-binding letter of intent for a proposed agreement regarding development of an inhaled dry powder bacteriophage for the treatment of lung infections. Felix would need to successfully complete a Series A financing before entering into a definitive agreement, which would provide for Felix to make an upfront payment to TFF as well as milestone payments and royalties.
According to the announcement, the two companies have been working together to determine the feasibility of using the TFF technology to formulate “various phage product materials” supplied by Felix since May 2020, and the resulting dry powders “exhibited superior aerosol properties for lung delivery.”
TFF Pharmaceuticals President and CEO Glenn Mattes commented, “We are very excited to be pursuing an agreement with Felix Biotechnology, a company on the leading edge of developing bacteriophage therapies that initially are targeting bacterial lung infections. We believe the reformulation of these unique, complex biologics using our TFF technology would represent a first-of-its-kind breakthrough and could provide a more effective and targeted delivery mechanism to the deep lung of patients. We look forward to working towards a final agreement and seeing this breakthrough technology advance into the clinic and beyond.”
Felix CEO Rob McBride said, “Our goal at Felix is not only to develop but also to deploy innovative solutions to tackle the growing and unmanaged challenge of antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. We currently deliver our generalized phage therapy directly to the lung via nebulization, and have done so successfully in humans. Our lead asset, targeting Pseudomonas infections in the lungs of CF patients is currently being evaluated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial at Yale in 36 patients. We are excited to continue developing cutting edge and effective phage delivery solutions to our patients and our collaboration with TFF represents an important next step for us on this path.”
University of Texas Professor Robert Williams, inventor of the TFF technology, explained, “The challenge, historically, of delivering bacteriophages is that their formulations have not been well optimized, limiting their shelf-life and subsequent potency. Many of these formulations also require cold-chain storage. We have demonstrated that thin film freezing can convert liquid bacteriophage into a dry powder that can be stored at typical room temperatures. This dry powder form of the bacteriophage can then be administered by intranasal/inhalation delivery to the lungs, or by injection after reconstitution at the point-of-use.”
TFF Pharmaceuticals recently announced a collaboration with Augmenta Bioworks on development of inhaled dry powder monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of COVID-19. The company also recently announced the addition of a thin film freezing line at CDMO Experic, expanding its manufacturing capacity.
Read the TFF Pharmaceuticals press release.
