Armata Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on pathogen-specific bacteriophage therapeutics for antibiotic-resistant and difficult-to-treat bacterial infections, announced that the first patient has been dosed in the company’s Phase 1b/2a clinical trial (‘diSArm’) of AP-SA02, which is being developed for the treatment of complicated Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia.
“The dosing of the first patient in Armata’s diSArm study represents a critical milestone in targeting a dangerous pathogen,” stated Dr. Brian Varnum, Chief Executive Officer of Armata. “We are excited to initiate dosing with our second phage product candidate, expanding the exploration of phage benefit in difficult-to-treat infections. The Armata team has worked diligently, along with our partners at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), to potentially bring this new therapy to patients with high unmet need.”
In June 2020, Armata received a $15 million award from the DoD through the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) managed by the Naval Medical Research Center with funding from the Defense Health Agency and Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program, to evaluate safety and tolerability of AP-SA02 as an adjunct to best available antibiotic therapy.
“Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections are associated with mortality rates as high as 40% despite the use of powerful, standard of care antibiotics,” stated Mina Pastagia, MD, Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Armata. “The pathogen has developed several strategies to adapt to the infected host, including forming biofilms that have increased tolerance against traditional antibiotics, resulting in refractory and relapse infections. In pre-clinical studies, AP-SA02 demonstrated potent antimicrobial activity against approximately 95% of S. aureus clinical isolates evaluated, including drug-resistant strains, and, we believe, due to its potency and biofilm activity, may offer synergistic benefits when used with standard of care antibiotics – something we hope to demonstrate in this and future studies.”
Armata is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of pathogen-specific bacteriophage therapeutics for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant and difficult-to-treat bacterial infections using its proprietary bacteriophage-based technology. Armata is developing and advancing a broad pipeline of natural and synthetic phage candidates, including clinical candidates for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and other pathogens. In addition, in collaboration with Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, Armata is developing proprietary synthetic phage candidates to target an undisclosed infectious disease agent. Armata is committed to advancing phage with drug development expertise that spans bench to clinic including in-house phage specific GMP manufacturing.