BioRelix Inc., a New Haven, Conn.-based a drug discovery and development company focused on identifying new anti-infective drug treatments, has raised $4.244m in funding.
Backers include Connecticut Innovations (CI), which has made an investment of $500,000 through its Eli Whitney Fund, CHL Medical Partners, Novartis Bioventures, New Leaf Ventures, Aisling Capital, Elm Street Ventures, and Alexandria Equities.
Led by CEO Brian Dixon, BioRelix is developing antibiotics using a new riboswitch-based drug discovery platform.
Riboswitches, which were identified by the laboratory of BioRelix co-founder, Ronald Breaker, Ph.D., Howard Hughes Investigator and Henry Ford II Professor at Yale University, are short stretches of messenger RNA (mRNA) that bind small molecules and control genes essential for the survival of many human pathogens.
The company, whose most advanced initiative is an antibiotic for a hospital-acquired infection, is also involved in a research collaboration with a subsidiary of Merck & Co. to identify new antibacterial drug candidates.
FinSMEs
22/01/2012