UNC spinout raises $300K to build a better antibiotic

An antibiotics startup company spun out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has raised about $300,000 in financing as the company works on developing a way to make existing antibiotics more powerful.

Synereca Pharmaceuticals is targeting a small fundraising round of $340,000, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The date of the first sale was Dec. 17. Company vice president and co-founder Bennett Love said the fundraise is seed money to bring on a full-time staff of three and to continue pre-clinical work on its compounds. He said Synereca would eventually be seeking to partner with a larger pharmaceutical company to take the compounds through clinical trials.

“When and where and how that happens all remains to be seen,” he said.

Synereca, founded in 2009, is based on the scientific research of Scott Singleton, the company’s president and chief scientific officer, and a professor of medicinal chemistry and natural products at UNC’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The company is developing compounds that inhibit the bacterial enzyme RecA. This enzyme is a key factor in bacterial DNA repair and the development of antibiotic resistance. A prototype of this enzyme inhibitor showed that blocking the bacterial repair abilities of the enzyme improves the effects of antibiotics such as flouroquinolone and penicillin.

Synereca’s board chairman is veteran biotechnology and pharmaceuticals executive Clayton Duncan. Duncan has served as the chairman of CRX Medical, CEO of Sphinx Pharmaceuticals, CEO of Incara Pharmaceuticals and CEO of Entegrion.