New anti-infectives company formed

Allecra Therapeutics, a new biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of novel antibiotics to combat multi drug-resistant bacterial infections, has set up in the established European BioValley Life Sciences cluster with a €15m Series A financing round.

The company is based on a strategic partnership between its founders, Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd, of Chennai, India, and its lead investors Forbion Capital Partners and Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners.

Bacterial resistance to current antibiotics is widespread and growing exponentially, leading governments, non-governmental agencies and the medical community to call for increased urgency and decisive action. Allecra‘s mission is to develop new treatments that overcome emerging bacterial resistance mechanisms.

‘To combat the increasing threat of bacterial resistance the medical community is trying to conserve the use of currently available antibiotics. At the same time, the biopharmaceutical industry is working to find new antibiotics,’ said Allecra CEO Nicholas Benedict. ‘These objectives are complementary activities in the increasingly urgent battle against bacterial resistance.

‘Allecra has been formed in order to find new cures for some of the most widespread and hardest to treat resistant infections.’

Commenting on this partnership, Orchid’s Chairman and Managing Director K Raghavendra Rao said: ‘We have always believed in building collaborative business models to achieve our vision. This strategic partnership with Allecra is yet another demonstration of how we can create value by harnessing the relative strengths of each company.’