NovaBiotics Ltd is targeting the life-threatening lung infections that exacerbate the progressive lung damage associated with Cystic Fibrosis. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a Gram-negative bacteria, colonises the lungs of most Cystic Fibrosis sufferers by 10 years of age. The impact on prognosis and disease outcome is so significant that Burkholderia cepacia, a bacterial complex also able to colonise the lungs of a proportion of Cystic Fibrosis patients is an equally important focus for NovaBiotics' novel antimicrobial technology.

The Cystic Fibrosis-associated chronic P. aeruginosa and B. cepacia infections that NovaBiotics aims to combat lead to a deterioration in lung function. The mean survival age of Cystic Fibrosis sufferers is 31 years, but this is improved in patients who suffer fewer P. aeruginosa infections. Developing better antibiotic therapies is therefore a major therapeutic focus for Cystic Fibrosis.

NovaBiotics' technology has the potential to succeed where conventional antibiotic treatments for Cystic Fibrosis-associated infections often fail. Resistance to conventional antibiotics, route of delivery and the mucoid environment in which the bacteria thrive all reduce the effectiveness of many current therapies. The most successful treatment at present is the aerosolised (inhaled) form of the antibiotic Tobramycin.

NovaBiotics' novel antimicrobial peptides can also be aerosolised to facilitate delivery directly to the target sites within the lung, both in early and later-stage infections. Uniquely, NovaBiotics' novel technology is not sensitive to the unique ionic environment of the mucosal epithelial tissues of Cystic Fibrosis sufferers, a factor that has impinged on the success of similar experimental antimicrobial therapies previously explored by others.