Biotech firm Galapagos-owned drug discovery company Argenta has signed a collaboration agreement with Denmark-based biotech Pcovery for the development of anti-fungal agents.
Pcovery, founded in 2009, was spun out of Aarhus and Copenhagen universities’ collaboration the Centre for Membrane Pumps in Cells and Disease, otherwise known as the PUMPkin Centre. The biotech focuses on the development of a broad spectrum of anti-fungal agents which target membrane proteins.
The collaboration with Argenta will be funded by a Seeding Drug Discovery award from the Wellcome Trust.
According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, fungal infections pose a growing risk to the public. Patients with weakened immune systems are especially at risk. In addition, mycotic infections may increase in years to come as climate change presents a perfect environment for fungi to become more abundant.
Casper Tind Hansen, chief executive of Pcovery, said, “We look forward very much to working with the highly skilled and capable Argenta team to progress what will hopefully be a novel class of anti-fungal drugs for invasive fungal infections. The Argenta team has already been a big help in securing the Wellcome Trust SDD funding.”