Human Health Care
AvidBiotics’ Avidocin™ and Micacide™ proteins offer great specificity against targeted bacteria and virus-infected or cancer cells. In addition, their killing potency against such disease agents exceeds that of antibodies. Specificity and potency are watchwords for the creation of drugs that are both safe and highly effective.
Avidocin™ proteins are highly specific for their bacterial targets and can be engineered to target any bacterial species or strain. This makes Avidocin proteins highly suited for both prophylactic and therapeutic uses against many bacterial diseases. Moreover, they offer significant advantages over antibiotics for many uses. Avidocin™ proteins can be specifically targeted against antibiotic-resistant organisms and do not promote the spread of multi-drug resistance. Moreover, Avidocin™ proteins offer opportunities for manipulating microbial populations in a targeted fashion to treat certain illnesses where collateral damage to beneficial microbes caused by antibiotics would preclude those drugs’ safe use. Thus, in effect, Avidbiotics is changing the definition and approach to bacterial diseases. For specific programs currently under development based on Avidocin proteins and potential future applications, read on.
All Micacide™ proteins are targeted to specific molecules on the surface of virally infected or cancer cells where they flag the cells for destruction by the innate immune system (NK- and/or T-cell responses). AvidBiotics is currently developing this technology through grants from the National Institutes of Health. AvidBiotics has received a SBIR Phase 1 grant to develop targeted, soluble MICA molecules to recruit innate immunity cells to kill LCM and Yellow Fever Virus infected cells.