Techulon, Inc. has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for a Phase II contract to advance its therapeutic program for multi-drug resistant bacteria, or ‘superbugs.’ This award drives Techulon’s development of a nanotherapeutic agent that will give the Department of Defense and hospitals the ability to rapidly respond and treat patients with life-threatening multi-drug resistant infections. Techulon successfully completed an early feasibility program of its technology platform in 2012 with DARPA leading up to the current award.

Drug-resistant bacteria are a pervasive and growing problem to both military and civilian healthcare facilities and create over $30B in cost and 100,000 deaths per year. Funding from DARPA will provide resources for Techulon to advance its technology through critical milestones toward human clinical trials.

“We are pleased to extend our work in Rapidly-Adaptable Therapeutics with DARPA. This program will lead to better therapies for wounded soldiers and civilians affected by multi-drug resistant hospital-acquired infections,” commented Dr. Joshua Bryson, CSO at Techulon.

Dr. Brett Malone, Techulon’s President commented, “Our partnership with DARPA helps us continue to build value in our clinical initiatives and ultimately have an impact on the healthcare industry with a new generation of therapeutics. Our approach is feasible in many disease areas, including drug-resistant infections, and we are excited to be working with the agency to solve such a devastating problem.”