Full Press Release Details
Announces Positive Results in Several Lantibiotics Compounds Against MRSA and VRE
Addresses Life-Threatening Antibiotic-Resistant Infections
Fla. (March 14, 2023) - Oragenics, Inc.
(NYSE American: OGEN) ("Oragenics" or the "Company"), a biotechnology company dedicated to fighting infectious
diseases, today reports favorable findings from third party laboratory testing of several compounds in Oragenics' lantibiotics
platform to combat multiple pathogens despite the resistance of those pathogens to standard-of-care antibiotics. Lantibiotics are a novel
class of antibiotics with the potential to treat serious, life-threatening infections.
lantibiotics platform is focused on the development of new antibiotics effective against certain pathogens including vancomycin-resistant
Enterococci (VRE) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This preclinical testing was conducted
through Oragenics' collaboration with Linnaeus Bioscience Inc.
by Linnaeus Bioscience demonstrated that the MRSA and VRE strains and clinical isolates remained sensitive to several Oragenics'
lantibiotic structures analyzed despite their resistance to so-called drugs of last resort such as oxacillin, methicillin, vancomycin
Murphy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Oragenics, commented, "We previously reported that cross-resistance does not appear
to emerge with our novel class of antibiotics because of their unique mechanism of action. We are encouraged by the outcomes of our recent
collaboration with Linnaeus, which verify that life-threatening pathogens that are resistant to drugs of last resort - including
vancomycin and daptomycin - remain sensitive to several of our lantibiotic compounds. This is another significant step in efforts
to identify a new lead compound to advance into the clinic toward the development of novel therapies to fight infectious diseases."
Sharp, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Linnaeus Bioscience and an expert on antibiotic mechanism of action, stated, "Antimicrobial
resistance continues to be a significant and increasingly serious clinical problem. Through this collaboration with Oragenics
we demonstrated that clinically-relevant representative strains and contemporary clinical isolates remain sensitive to several lantibiotics
despite the multidrug-resistance phenotype of those bacterial species. Vancomycin and daptomycin
in particular are among the drugs that are used for treating severe healthcare-associated MRSA infections."
than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the U.S. each year, and more than 35,000 people die as a result. Oragenics
is focused on addressing this unmet medical need through its novel lantibiotics platform, and the results of its work with Linnaeus Bioscience
advance Oragenics' long-term mission to become a provider of effective treatments for infectious diseases. Oragenics remains committed
to fighting infectious diseases through the development of its lantibiotics pipeline against MRSA and VRE pathogens.
Linnaeus Bioscience Inc.
Linnaeus Bioscience Inc., our mission is to speed up drug discovery through the exploration, advancement and application of innovative
technologies. Established in 2012, Linnaeus was founded to commercialize the Bacterial Cytological Profiling (BCP) platform first developed
at the University of California San Diego. BCP enables us to rapidly understand the mechanism of action of antibiotics by performing
the equivalent of an autopsy on bacterial cells. We apply this cutting-edge technology to develop our own internal pipeline of molecules
that target Gram-negative bacteria and provide access to BCP on a fee-for-service basis. For further details about Linnaeus Bioscience
Inc., please visit our website at www.linnaeusbio.com.
Inc. is a development-stage company dedicated to fighting infectious diseases, including those caused by coronaviruses and multidrug-resistant
organisms. Its lead product is NT-CoV2-1, an intranasal vaccine candidate to prevent COVID-19 and variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The
NT-CoV2-1 program leverages coronavirus spike protein research licensed from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National
Research Council of Canada (NRC) with a focus on reducing viral transmission and offering a more patient-friendly intranasal administration.
Its lantibiotics program features a novel class of antibiotics against bacteria that have developed resistance to commercial antibiotics.
For more information about Oragenics, please visit www.oragenics.com.
communication contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and
information currently available. The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend,"
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and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements. These
factors include, but are not limited to, the following: the Company's ability to obtain necessary funding, non-dilutive or otherwise,
for the development of the vaccine and lantibiotic product candidates; the Company's ability to advance the development of its
vaccine candidate and lantibiotics candidate under the timelines and in accord with the milestones it projects; the regulatory application
process, research and development stages, and future clinical data and analysis relating to vaccines and lantibiotics, including any
meetings, decisions by regulatory authorities, such as the FDA and Canadian regulatory authorities and investigational review boards,
whether favorable or unfavorable; the potential application of our vaccine candidate to variants and other coronaviruses; the Company's
ability to obtain, maintain and enforce necessary patent and other intellectual property protection and license agreements; the nature
of competition and development relating to COVID-19 immunization and therapeutic treatments and demand for vaccines and antibiotics;
the Company's expectations as to the outcome of preclinical studies, nasal administration, transmission, manufacturing, storage
and distribution; other potential adverse impacts such as delays in regulatory review, manufacturing delays and supply chain issues,
adverse impacts on healthcare systems and disruption of the global economy; the ability to sustain compliance with our exchange listing
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Huffman, Chief Financial Officer