UK-Canada alliance as BioTryp Therapeutics and Intellisyn Pharma collaborate
The duo are receiving advisory services and funding of up to CA$200k from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), alongside £300k from Innovate UK, to support their work.
Their project leverages Intellisyn’s preclinical drug discovery expertise to accelerate BioTryp’s work on developing novel small molecule anti-biofilm therapies for bacterial infections.
Based on years of research at the University of Cambridge, BioTryp is developing novel treatments for tackling infections, with a particular focus on preventing the recurrence of hard-to-treat bacterial infections. Its initial target indication is urinary tract problems, which affect over 400 million people worldwide annually, with high recurrence rates. Infection recurrence is driven by the formation of bacterial biofilms in the urinary tract, which protect the constituent pathogens from both antibiotic therapy and the host immune system.
By inhibiting the formation of these biofilms, BioTrp’s novel therapies will support infection eradication as well as help prevent recurrence, creating a new paradigm of treatment for these common infections.
BioTryp, which was shortlisted in the 35th Anniversary Business Weekly Awards in September 2025, has already been working with the Intellisyn team to identify a lead chemical series of candidate compounds, based on hit compounds previously identified.
The new support will fund a one-year programme of research progressing BioTrp’s compounds into the lead optimisation stage led by Intellisyn. Compounds will be designed and synthesised utilising Intellisyn’s extensive background know-how, IP and machine learning algorithms, and sent to BioTryp for testing via its assays, in an iterative process to progress the work towards the identification of lead candidates.
The project will benefit both the UK and Canadian biotech ecosystems, supporting the development of novel therapeutics and innovative drug discovery methodologies across the two countries. In the longer term, the development of such anti-biofilm therapies will be crucial to address the fight against antibiotic resistant infections, and to support antibiotic stewardship efforts, benefiting patients and healthcare systems across the globe.