Antibiotics have made it possible to treat bacterial infections from meningitis to cellulitis, but antibiotic-resistant bacteria have become widespread, making drug treatment less effective. At least 700,000 people die each year due to antimicrobial resistance. Without improved treatments, the World Health Organization predicts that this number could rise to 10 million by 2050.
Xiretsa is meeting this need by developing a new class of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Anti-infective Conjugated Electrolytes (ACEs) demonstrate unprecedented activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as certain pathogenic fungi. They have a modular design that enables rapid derivatization, and negligible cross-resistance ensures a long marketable lifetime and reduces the risk for treatment failures.
Xiretsa was co-founded by UCSB Professor Guillermo Bazan, UCSB postdoctoral researcher Alex Morelend, and other collaborators in 2019, with the goal of advancing infectious disease therapy. Xiretsa is working to tailor its proprietary molecular platform to develop selective membrane-remodeling antibiotics, and in the past few years the company has made significant progress toward its goal. In early 2024, Xiretsa became the second venture to receive funding from the INCubator for Antibacterial Therapies in Europe (INCATE). That funding allowed the company to move into the UCSB CNSI Technology Incubator later that year. Xiretsa has also received funding from angel investors and a NIH Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant.