NovaBiotics signs fast-track contract

A DRUG company spun-out of Aberdeen's Rowett Institute has signed a deal with a contractor to fast-track the development of its medicines.

NovaBiotics has an agreement with Isogenica to help the company turn the chemical compounds it has made into drugs that could be used to fight infections, including hospital "super-bug" MRSA. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Two of the Scottish firm's medicines are already in development: Novexatin is a treatment for fungal nail infection, which has completed a phase-two clinical trial; while Novamycin will enter trials next year and could be used to treat blood and tissue infections.

Dr Deborah O'Neil, chief executive and founder of NovaBiotics, said: "I am delighted to be working with Isogenica on this research project.

"They are experts in this field and their technology is ideal for screening Novabiotics' vast library of anti-infective peptides (chemical components] as efficiently as possible and enabling our firm to fast-track the development of its product pipeline."

The company was founded in 2004 to target the $5.7 billion (3.6bn) anti-fungal market.

NovaBiotics raised 5 million last year from private equity investors and Scottish Enterprise's venture fund.

Its board includes Professor Andy Porter - the former chief scientific officer at Haptogen who helped oversee its sale to Wyeth - as a non-executive director.