Our Focus
Our innovative technology platform targets protective shields surrounding bacteria to enable more efficient immune response or antibiotic intervention.
Understanding Biofilms
Biofilm-related infections are challenging infections that are often resistant to standard antibiotic treatment.
Biofilms include an extracellular matrix with a lattice-like structure of extracellular DNA (eDNA) and “linchpin” binding proteins. This matrix acts as a shield to protect bacteria from attacks by the immune system and antibiotics, contributing to persistent, harmful inflammatory responses, as well as extended duration and severity of the disease.
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Conventional antibiotics are designed to eliminate the disease-causing bacteria but are ineffective against this biofilm protective scaffold.
80%
Bacterial biofilms are responsible for approximately 80% of human bacterial infections, and include infections such as bacterial pneumonia, COPD-related respiratory infections, chronic sinusitis and otitis media, and chronic wound-related infections. These infections carry significant morbidity and mortality, and contribute significant costs to the U.S. healthcare system.
Our Immune-Enabling Technology
Our technology platform precisely and potently targets the underlying structure of the biofilm, resulting in effective destruction of the protective shield and thus vulnerability of the protected bacteria to immune and antibiotic attack.
Preliminary data indicate the mechanism can enable a more efficient immune reaction to eliminate a wide range of disease-causing bacteria, and it may also create greater effectiveness when used in cooperation with antibiotics.
In addition to therapeutic applications, the same technology may serve as a powerful new vaccination tactic, enabling the body’s immune response to effectively counter new bacterial threats by preventing the development of the biofilm barrier.
Pipeline
We are building a dynamic pipeline of biologic therapies and vaccines for biofilm-related chronic and recurrent bacterial infections, initially focusing on chronic and recurrent infections of the respiratory tract.
- CMTX-001 is an immune-enabling antibody therapy with broad-spectrum activity, in development for hospital-acquired pneumonia as a first indication.
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Hospital-acquired pneumonia is a high-burden disease that presents in an estimated 21 cases per 1,000 hospital admissions and can be fatal in up to half of those cases. It contributes significant costs to the U.S. healthcare system through increased length of hospital stay, greater need for ventilation and higher ICU resource utilization.
- Beyond the current focus on respiratory tract infections — including cystic fibrosis, sinusitis, and post-tympanostomy tube otorrhea (PTTO) — the company envisions potential opportunities in areas such as chronic wounds, orthopedic implant/joint infections, and endocarditis (dialysis-related), among others.
Publications
Preliminary data support the efficiency and speed of this approach as well as the complementary nature to immune function: