20 May 2013 - 20 May 2013 - US development-stage biopharmaceutical firm Sorrento Therapeutics Inc (OTCMKTS:SRNE) said on Friday that the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) had extended its support under the company's grant for the development of human antibody therapeutics against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus or Staph) infections.

Sorrento's Fast-Track Advanced Technology Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) grant from the NIAID was renewed for the second year of a two year Phase I grant award. Thanks to the Fast Track designation of the grant, if Sorrento meets certain milestones during this second year, it may be granted Phase II funding of up to USD 1 million (EUR 779,000) per year for up to two additional years.

The company's anti-methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) programme targets the auto-inducing peptides (AIPs) central to the quorum sensing system of S. aureus that controls virulence factor production, including toxin production. Neutralising these AIPs leads to a disruption of bacterial communication (quorum quenching) and suppresses Staph virulence. In 2010, the firm secured an exclusive licence to the quorum quenching technology from the Scripps Research Institute.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.778)