VIENNA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arsanis Biosciences GmbH, an early stage biotechnology company developing anti-infective human monoclonal antibodies, today announced the award of a grant for the development of monoclonal antibody therapeutics against nosocomial infections from the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (Forschungs-Förderungs-Gesellschaft or “FFG”), the leading public funding agency for translational research in Austria. The support from FFG for the first year is 1.19 million EUR; additional funding (up to 70% of the total budget of 12.5 million EUR for the program) is expected in the following three years.
“Arsanis is building a broad portfolio of anti-infective antibodies, several of which target nosocomial bacterial infections,” commented Eszter Nagy, MD, PhD, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Arsanis. “The award of this grant reflects the importance of the medical needs we address and acknowledges the innovative scientific approach of Arsanis. The FFG grant will support discovery activities of several antibody projects and the pre-clinical and early clinical development of one lead program.”
“Arsanis is grateful for the FFG support,” said Tillman Gerngross, Ph.D. Co-Founder and Chairman of Arsanis. “Eszter and her team have demonstrated how a small, focused group of committed scientists can make remarkable progress in a short period of time. This award underscores the quality of Arsanis’s programs.”
“This grant will help to reinforce Vienna as an attractive venue for international biotech investors,” said Errik Anderson, Co-founder of Arsanis.
Arsanis received funding in 2010 by a syndicate of three US-based venture capitalists; Orbimed Advisors (New York, NY), Polaris Venture Partners (Waltham, MA), and SV Life Sciences (Boston, MA).
About Arsanis
Arsanis is committed to the development of monoclonal antibody therapeutics against severe infectious diseases that cannot be controlled with currently available medical treatments. The Company’s major focus is on life threatening infections that: are caused by antibiotic resistant pathogens; occur in immune compromised patients; or are associated with high mortality in spite of low rates of antibiotic resistance. Using first-in-class monoclonal antibody discovery technologies that support the selection of highly potent antibodies with unique qualities, Arsanis is building a broad portfolio of infectious disease targets. The most successful pre-clinical programs will be advanced into clinical proof-of-relevance studies.
Arsanis was founded in the fall of 2010 by Dr. Eszter Nagy (former SVP of Research at Intercell, AG), Dr. Tillman Gerngross (Co-founder and CEO of Adimab, and Co-founder and CSO of GlycoFi, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck & Co. since 2006) and Errik Anderson (Co-founder and COO of Adimab) who bring together expertise in monoclonal antibody discovery, infectious disease biology and commercializing innovation. Arsanis Biosciences GmbH, based in Vienna, Austria, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arsanis, Inc.
For more information, visit www.arsanis.com.