Inhaled Anti-Infectives With Extended Lung Retention: Pulmocide Secures Cash To Fund Trials

Targeted pulmonary drug delivery can reduce systemic toxicity and increase the therapeutic window of medicines, but products delivered by the inhaled route must stay in the lungs long enough to be effective. Pulmocide Ltd. has raised $30m in Series B funds so it can test two novel inhaled drug candidates with increased retention times for two lung infections with significant unmet need: respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and pulmonary aspergillosis.

The small UK biotech was set up by the former management team of Respivert, which a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary acquired in 2010. CEO Garth Rapeport and Chief Scientific Officer Pete Strong, who held the same positions at Respivert, initially joined J&J before setting up again on their own in 2013