Riptide Bioscience, Inc. Begins Research Under $222,000 NEI Grant

October 1, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. – Charles Garvin, CEO of Riptide Bioscience, Inc., announced Riptide's initiation of work under a $222,179 Small Business Innovation Research federal grant. The grant, from the National Eye Institute (NEI), will go towards a research project titled Designed Host Defense Peptides for the Treatment of Bacterial Keratitis.

“Our firm, Riptide Bioscience, has been developing peptides that have remarkable antibacterial activity, and also fight the inflammation that accompanies many serious illnesses,” said Garvin. “Keratitis is one of the conditions where a real concern is the development of bacterial resistance to the most common drugs. But bacteria can’t easily develop resistance to these peptides, which are proteins derived from naturally occurring defense mechanisms. The promise here is to develop a whole class of therapeutics that trump bacterial resistance and can be used against a very wide range of diseases. With new resistant strains arising every day, the need is urgent.” Bacterial keratitis is an infection of the cornea, the clear, round dome covering the eye's iris and pupil, that causes pain, reduced vision, light sensitivity and tearing or discharge from your eye. Resulting from infection from contact lens use or from injury to the eye, bacterial keratitis usually develops very quickly, and if left untreated, can cause blindness.

Bacterial keratitis afflicts 30,000 patients in the United States every year.

Riptide Bioscience's goal is to bring Designed Host Defense Peptides (dHDPs) to clinical practice. dHPDs are small molecular weight proteins that fight against bacteria, viruses, and fungi, and can be used for the topical treatment of keratitis.