MGB: Finding its groove

It has been known for decades that compounds binding to the minor groove of DNA can kill bacteria, but safety issues have prevented their development as antibiotics. MGB Biopharma Ltd. believes its compounds will get around the safety issues by selectively entering bacterial cells instead of mammalian cells.

MGB was founded in 2009 based on research by Colin Suckling, a professor of chemistry at the University of Strathclyde who was using distamycin as a template for designing antibacterial compounds...