EIC Client PhagePro receives $3 million in funding from NIH for developing Cholera treatment

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to highlight how social and health inequities disproportionately affect the most vulnerable populations. Like COVID-19, cholera, a potentially fatal bacterial disease spread primarily through contaminated water sources, is devastating for resource-limited places around the world.

Entrepreneurship & Innovation Clinic at Yale Law School client PhagePro, an early-stage biotech therapeutics company spun out of the Tufts School of Medicine, is working to change that. PhagePro approaches cholera treatment with bacteriophages, or “phages,” which are naturally-occurring viruses, to specifically target and kill bacteria such as Vibrio cholera (the bacteria that causes cholera). PhagePro’s treatment approach is vital in settings where antibiotic-resistant strains of cholera have developed over time.

With $3 million in funding from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant and a NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Award (R21), PhagePro is poised to move its cholera work forward. See https://www.phageproinc.com/press-releases

The Phase II SBIR grant funds will be used for research and development to optimize PhagePro’s proprietary bacteriophage preparation for epidemic strains of cholera. R21 grant funds will support the use of cholera phages to target antibiotic-resistant causes of cholera and reduce transmission of antibiotic resistant genes.

Since launching at Yale Law School in August 2018, the EIC has provided legal support for PhagePro on corporate and transactional matters. We’re proud to have played a role in helping PhagePro achieve this significant milestone and our contributions to their grant applications and research and collaboration with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, the world’s leading cholera hospital and main collaborator for the Phase II SBIR grant.

Join us in congratulating PhagePro as they work to combat cholera and help the world’s most vulnerable communities prosper.