Q1) Can you tell us a bit about your background? How did you become involved in Persica?
Through degree, Ph.D. and postdoc I was a microbial geneticist. I was always more interested in the translation of research and so moved into the biotech industry. I was lucky to work with some amazing people across a wide range of technical skills and in a variety of therapeutic areas. My first CSO role was in a University of Oxford antibacterial spin-out called Prolysis and one of my first tasks was to help hire a CEO. We hired Steve Ruston and together we managed Prolysis for 10 years until it was sold. Steve is now CEO at Persica and we have worked together for over 20 years.
The science at Persica is exciting. Grounded in antibacterial R&D but in a completely new therapeutic area (chronic Low Back Pain), creating an opportunity to learn and use antibiotics in a revolutionary way.
Q2) What is unique about Persica’s approach to addressing cLBP?
Persica focuses on treating one of the causes of cLBP rather than treating symptoms. It is based on the discovery that a small number of bacteria infecting the spinal disc can create a chronic inflammatory condition leading to pain and disability. Treatment with oral antibiotics can kill the bacteria, but long and high doses of antibiotics are required because little gets directly to the spinal disc. Persica’s proposed treatment is a 2-dose regime, four days apart, that can eliminate the infection and address the underlying cause of pain.
Q3) Persica recently announced positive data from its Phase 1b Modic Trial? What interests you most about the findings?
We set out to repeat the success of oral antibiotic studies with intradiscal administration, and we seem to have done that! We followed the patients for 12 months after treatment and on all measures they still seemed to be improving at 12 months – so we don’t know what the final degree of benefit might be. The next step is to move into larger Phase III studies.
Careers are short and you do not have many opportunities to work on projects from concept to clinical evaluation. I hope and expect that working with Persica and the extended team of CROs to discover and develop PP353 will be a career highlight. Millions of people suffer with chronic Low Back Pain – it’s a truly debilitating condition for which we currently don’t have enough treatment options.
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