Biopharmaceutical company AN2 Therapeutics Inc (Nasdaq: ANTX) revealed on Monday that it has entered into a research collaboration with biopharmaceutical firm GSK to advance boron-based leucyl-tRNA synthetase (LeuRS) inhibitors targeting tuberculosis (TB).

This partnership aims to develop novel small molecule therapies for TB, a disease affecting over a quarter of the global population and causing more than 1.25 million deaths annually.

The Gates Foundation has awarded AN2 a third year of funding to support its work within the collaboration. LeuRS is a validated drug target underlying existing and investigational therapies, including epetraborole, ganfeborole and the FDA-approved antifungal tavaborole.

AN2 Therapeutics leverages its boron chemistry platform to discover and develop small molecule therapeutics across infectious diseases and oncology, with a pipeline addressing TB, NTM lung disease, Chagas disease and melioidosis. The company focuses on high-impact drugs aimed at addressing critical unmet medical needs.