Arrevus Inc. , a biotechnology company focused on developing chaperone protein inhibitors for infectious diseases, today announced receipt of a $1.5 million Fast-Track grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to expedite research on the effects of ARV-1502 on bacteremia caused by "high priority" multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogens.

"Arrevus is eager to investigate how ARV-1502 may help patients suffering from MDR bacteremia. Spread of resistant bacteria beyond the primary site of infection results in a high mortality rate and can occur in many clinical scenarios; this is an important indication that we need to address," said Carl N. Kraus, M.D., President and CEO of Arrevus.

Infections caused by MDR bacteria result in substantial health and economic impact due to the lack of effective therapeutic options. Gram-negative bloodstream infections (BSIs) result in higher treatment costs compared to cases of drug-sensitive BSIs and also carry a higher risk of disease recurrence.

"Research by Arrevus is extremely important given the extraordinary mortality associated with bacteremia. The investigation of Arrevus's modified host defense peptides is exciting, especially given the antibiotic-enhancing properties of ARV-1502 on BSIs identified in prior animal studies," said Dr. Yan Xiong, consortium Principal Investigator and Senior Investigator at Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Researcher at UCLA School of Medicine.

The economic costs and casualties associated with infectious disease are increasing due to the ever-growing issue of antibiotic resistance that has created a large subset of infections unresponsive to antibiotic therapy. While efforts to improve stewardship of currently used antibiotics are important to curb resistance trends, strategies to rebuild the antibiotic development pipeline are critical to fully address the issue of antibiotic resistance.

About Arrevus
Arrevus is a biotechnology company whose mission is to eliminate the threat of antibiotic resistance and improve treatment outcomes for serious infectious diseases. Arrevus is applying evolutionary templates to develop first-in-class proprietary anti-infectives known as Designer Proline-rich Antimicrobial Peptide Chaperone Protein Inhibitors (DPCs). Arrevus is headquartered in Raleigh, NC.

Register as Visitor to CPhI China 2018!