Atox on Fast Track for NSTI

Atox Bio has been granted Fast Track designation for AB103, its lead product, currently in development for the treatment of Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infections (NSTI). Atox Bio completed recruitment of 40 patients in a phase 2 proof of concept study evaluating AB103’s clinical benefit when administered in addition to standard of care. Efficacy data from these 40 patients is expected by the end of this year. NSTI includes several distinctive clinical diagnoses that share clinical features representing the most severe types of infections involving the skin, skin structure and soft tissue with a high mortality rate. Currently, there are no approved treatments for NSTI. The existing principles of NSTI management include early diagnosis with prompt and repeated surgical debridement, aggressive resuscitation and physiologic support, in addition to antimicrobial drugs. As neither surgical debridement nor antibacterial therapy directly address the immunological pathogenesis of NSTI, modulating the host inflammatory response could lead to important clinical benefits in morbidity and mortality.

AB103 is a rationally designed short peptide acting as a CD28 modulator regulating the host’s inflammatory response, improving the host’s ability to effectively fight the infection. Atox Bio is implementing this novel mode of action into a unique approach to treating infectious diseases by targeting the host’s immune system, rather than the pathogen, thereby providing solution for bacterial infections with broad-spectrum coverage, independent of pathogen typ