Brian Cunningham

Trellis Bioscience is a clinical-stage company focused on discovering and developing native human monoclonal antibodies to treat and prevent drug-resistant, life-threatening infectious diseases. Antibodies are the immune system's most potent natural weapon against disease. Trellis's innovative proprietary technology CellSpot™ overcomes technical obstacles that have long hindered exploiting the full human antibody repertoire. This ideal source of drugs focuses on the selection of elite antibodies that bind highly conserved target epitopes with high affinity. TRL1068 is a native human monoclonal antibody (for intravenous delivery) whose target is a family of bacterial proteins (DNABII) that play a critical role in maintaining the structural integrity of biofilms by anchoring extracellular bacterial DNA (eDNA) from dead bacteria within the biofilm matrix. TRL1068 binds at high affinity (Kd ~50 pM) to a highly conserved epitope found in nearly all medically significant bacteria, including both Gram-positive and Gram-negative species. High affinity binding to DNABII ensures that the protein is eliminated from the body and thus prevents its deposition elsewhere in the body, where it could form biofilm metastases. Because the bacterial target is only exposed to the antibody after the producing bacterial cell is dead, resistance to this novel intervention is expected to be rare. The FDA granted Fast Track, QIDP (qualified infectious disease product), and Orphan Drug designations for TRL1068.