United States-based Frazier Healthcare Partners has introduced Recida Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapeutics for serious antibiotic-resistant infections, it was reported yesterday.

Recida's lead program, RC-01, is a novel, IND-stage LpxC inhibitor intended for the treatment of multidrug-resistant gram-negative infections. Recida has licensed development and commercialisation rights to RC-01 from FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical Co Ltd for all territories outside Japan. The company intends to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for the product to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the first quarter of 2019.

The product inhibits bacterial LpxC, a key enzyme in Lipid A biosynthesis. It exhibits a broad spectrum of rapid, in vitro and in vivo bactericidal activity against major clinically relevant pathogens such as the Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

CARB-X (Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator), a Boston University global partnership funded by the US has awarded Recida up to USD4.4m to help fund the preparation of an IND application, a Phase 1 trial to be completed in 2019 and drug product manufacturing to support subsequent Phase 2 studies.