Bugworks: breaking the U.S.-centric antimicrobial mold

With offices in India and the U.S., Bugworks is taking a global approach to antimicrobial drug development that relies equally on grants and venture capital. The company, which raised $7.5 million in venture funds last week, is designing a new class of broad-spectrum antibiotics that aims to inhibit microbial DNA replication while also circumventing a common resistance mechanism.

Co-founder and CEO Anand Anandkumar told BioCentury that Bugworks Research Inc. spun out of personalized therapy company Cellworks Research India Pvt. Ltd. in 2014, a time when pharmas were abandoning the field despite the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. ...