AureoGen in licensing deal with Takara Bio

AureoGen Biosciences, a Kalamazoo, USA-based biotechnology company that is using genetic engineering technology for the discovery and production of novel antibiotics, has entered into a license agreement with Japan's Takara Bio Inc. The deal will provide AureoGen access to several patent protected antibiotic compounds, as well as a proprietary organism that produces a potent antifungal compound.

Using the company's engineering technology, AureoGen will genetically alter the genome in Takara's antifungal-producing organism to produce novel broad-spectrum drug candidates.

These compounds will target systemic infections, a $4.3 billion world market that is projected to grow to $4.5 billion by 2014, according to the US firm, which was founded in 2003 by former Pharmacia scientists, who took advantage of new business development incentives offered when that company was acquired by Pfizer.