Wednesday, October 19, 2011

NIAID biothreat contract could bring $36M to Tetraphase

By Rodney H. Brown

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc. has won a contract worth a potential $36 million from a branch of the National Institutes of Health to develop one of its antibiotic compounds to fight possible biothreats and drug-resistant public health pathogens.

Watertown-based Tetraphase reported in a release that the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded the contract to develop its antibiotic TP-271 into a defense against such possible biothreats as anthrax, tularemia and the bubonic plague. In addition the company is tasked with trying to make the antibiotic work to fight community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP).

The contract has an initial 25 month period in which Tetraphase will receive $6 million under a subcontract from the prime contractor Buffalo, N.Y.-based CUBRC Inc. If the NIAID decides to exercise extensions of that contract, Tetraphase could see as much as $36 million come in from the deal, which includes possible manufacturing and clinical activities, in addition to the development phase.

Tetraphase has a synthetic chemistry technology platform it uses to discover and develop next-generation tetracycline antibiotics. In January, the company named Patrick Horn, formerly of Dyax Corp., as the company’s first chief medical officer.

Last November, Tetraphase was among a number of Massachusetts biotechnology companies that were awarded federal tax credits as part of the Therapeutic Discovery Tax Credit program that was established within the federal health reform law approved in March. Tetraphase won three grants totaling $733,437.

Privately held Tetraphase was founded in 2006 and has been backed by Mediphase Venture Partners, Fidelity Biosciences, Skyline Ventures, Flagship Ventures, and CMEA Ventures.