Lumen Bioscience, Inc.

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Phase Genomics, Inc., a leading innovator at the forefront of genomics technology development, today announced $1.5MM in new funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fuel a new antimicrobial discovery platform. Leveraging the power of lysins, phage-derived proteins that selectively kill specific bacteria and archaea, the program aims to address two immediate threats that will shape the next century: a growing global antibiotic resistance crisis and the challenge of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. The foundation of this effort rests on Phase Genomics’ proprietary global phage atlas, developed with support from the Gates Foundation and the NIH. Under this project, Phase Genomics will deploy its platform to develop antimicrobial agents that bypass resistance against Campylobacter infections and methanogenic archaea in ruminants that drive global methane emissions. “Our work at the frontier of microbiome research has unlocked a wealth of new insights on phages, the viruses that infect bacteria. Now, with support from the Gates Foundation, we’re harnessing our global phage database with the goal of improving human and environmental health and providing a critical alternative to traditional antibiotics,” said Ivan Liachko, PhD, founder and CEO of Phase Genomics. “The need for breakthrough therapeutics to combat the growing AMR crisis is urgent. We’ve built the right technology to identify and engineer lysin candidates primed to combat microbes both in environmental settings as well as emerging AMR biothreats and help overcome the industry-wide inertia facing novel antibiotic development.” Derived from bacteriophage (or simply, phage) genomes, lysins are highly specific lytic proteins that kill bacteria by dismantling the cell wall structure, sparing off-target healthy microbes that are often collateral damage in traditional, systemic antibiotic treatment. Lysin-based antibiotics are well-suited for rapid, scalable biomanufacturing and deployment. Targeted bacteria are also much less likely to develop resistance to lysins than both traditional antibiotics and intact phages, providing a sustainable and durable framework to counter the accelerating antibiotic resistance threat. The new platform will build on data from Phase Genomics’ bacteriophage discovery engine which holds one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive collections of phage-microbe interactions containing hundreds of thousands of new host-resolved phage genomes. This continuously-growing phage interactome atlas is primed for the rapid discovery of wide-ranging classes of antimicrobial lysins derived from phages. The platform is superior to other approaches in both scale and accuracy, simultaneously resolving both microbial targets and the phages that infect them, with each pair containing a potential target-specific lysin candidate. Phase Genomics’ ProxiMeta™-powered phage atlas forms a deep well of target bacterial pathogens and new candidate biologics to tackle emerging drug-resistant pathogens and environmental biothreats. This year-long project also marks a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Phase Genomics and Seattle-based Lumen Bioscience, who will assess lysin bioactivity in their robust and scalable microbial expression system. Follow Phase Genomics on X and LinkedIn for the latest news and information. About Phase Genomics Phase Genomics applies proprietary proximity ligation technology to enable chromosome-scale genome assembly, microbiome discovery, as well as analysis of genomic variation and genome architecture. In addition to a comprehensive portfolio of laboratory and computational services and products, including kits for plants, animals, microbes, and human samples, they also offer an industry-leading genome and metagenome assembly and analysis software. Based in Seattle, WA, the company was founded in 2015 by a team of genome scientists, software engineers, and entrepreneurs. The company’s mission is to empower scientists with genomic tools that accelerate breakthrough discoveries.

Orally delivered biologic drug to treat and prevent C. difficile infection to start recruiting for late-stage trials in Q4 2023 SEATTLE, Oct. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lumen Bioscience—a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing biologic drugs for highly prevalent diseases, today announced it was awarded $16.2 million by the U.S. Department of Defense to advance LMN-201 through late-stage trials. LMN-201 is an investigational, orally delivered biologic drug to treat and prevent C. difficile infection (CDI). CDI is a bacterial infection closely associated with antibiotics use in hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities. It is the most common health care-associated infection in U.S hospitals, causing nearly half a million cases and more than $5 billion in costs annually. Antibiotic therapy is often successful in treating initial CDI cases, but 20%-40% of patients will suffer a first recurrence within weeks. In studies with vulnerable patients, further recurrence rates sometimes exceed 50%. "Existing drugs for preventing Cdiff are costly and extremely inconvenient to administer, so we're excited about our chance to finally make a dent in U.S. CDI prevalence with this new therapeutic approach." said Dr. Carl Mason, Lumen Bio's VP, clinical affairs. "We are committed to moving LMN-201 into and through late-stage trials as quickly as possible to get it into the hands of those suffering from this terrible life-threatening disease." LMN-201 is an investigational drug—a complex biologic cocktail of therapeutic proteins that act synergistically to neutralize both the C. difficile bacterium and the toxin that causes its virulence directly in the patient's gastrointestinal tract. Taken orally in capsules, it is compatible with standard-of-care antibiotics and is GMP-manufactured by Lumen in Seattle. LMN-201 received FDA Fast Track designation earlier this year, and Lumen's pre-clinical data published last fall. The REPREVE Trial of LMN-201 will enroll approximately 375 patients at sites across the U.S., with recruitment outreach beginning in Q4 2023. The double-blind, placebo-controlled study will assess LMN-201's ability to both improve treatment outcomes and prevent recurrence in recently diagnosed CDI patients. Physicians interested in participating are encouraged to contact Lumen's clinical operations team at [email protected] or through the trial site: . A history of prior CDI recurrence is not required for enrollment. About Lumen Lumen Bioscience discovers, develops, and manufactures biologic drugs for highly prevalent diseases—many of which currently lack effective treatments. The company's unique drug development and manufacturing platform is transforming the biologics industry through increased speed, mass-market scale, and exponentially lower costs than have been possible with legacy technologies. Lumen's clinical pipeline includes investigational biologic drugs for C. difficile infection, Covid-19, cardiometabolic disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and traveler's diarrhea. For more information, visit: . About the Funding Agency, CDMRP The U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, 820 Chandler Street, Fort Detrick MD 21702-5014 is the awarding and administering acquisition office. This work was supported by The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs endorsed by the Department of Defense, in the amount of $16.2 million, through the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) under Award Number HT94252310959. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations contained herein are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defense. SOURCE Lumen Bioscience

Plus, Tessellate BIO, led by former Big Pharma execs, comes out of stealth. Lumen Bioscience gets $16M to advance C. diff therapy: The Department of Defense awarded $16.2 million to the Seattle-based company, which is developing an oral drug to treat and prevent infections with C. difficile . It plans to start enrolling 375 patients in a late-stage trial for LMN-201 by the end of the year. Flashpoint’s $10M: Flashpoint Therapeutics on Tuesday announced a $10 million seed round, led by Riyadh-based Beta Lab. The funds are expected to help advance the company’s first cancer therapy and select a second candidate. Flashpoint’s platform is based on work out of Chad Mirkin’s lab at Northwestern University’s International Institute for Nanotechnology.