CURZA SECURES EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS OF ANTIMICROBIAL & ONCOLOGY TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah—January, 2013— Curza is excited to announce that it has secured the exclusive license to several innovative technologies developed from the chemistry lab of Dr. Ryan Looper and the microbiology lab of Dr. Dustin Williams. The technologies represent two novel anti-infective programs and one oncology program.
Antibiotic resistance is now recognized as a worldwide crisis—as bacteria are exposed to antibiotics, those that survive carry mutations that allow them to withstand that particular class of antibiotics. More and more classes are becoming ineffective against deadly strains, and there is fear of returning to a pre-antibiotic era.
The critical nature of the antibiotic crisis emphasizes the importance of this discovery, but now the real challenge comes in bringing this life-saving technology to market. Pharmaceutical companies, due to the high cost of antibiotic development and lack of economic incentive, are reluctant to develop novel antibiotics when other types of medications yield higher profits. That’s where a local startup, Curza steps in. Curza licensed the technology in order to take advance the discovery efforts and one day progress these compounds through FDA clinical trials and eventually make them available to patients.
The Curza team has extensive experience in starting, growing and building successful companies and will use this expertise to develop and commercialize these unique technologies developed at the University of Utah.
About Curza—Curza is a Utah-based drug development company focused on developing novel therapeutics to combat antibiotic resistant bacteria. With original technology licensed from the University of Utah, Curza is in the early stages of developing two novel classes of antibiotics. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT with offices in Cambridge, MA, Curza is privately held and is backed by Clarke Capital Partners and other private investors. Visit www.curza.com for more information.
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