Companies To Watch: Azitra

By Wayne Koberstein, Executive Editor, Life Science Leader
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Azitra is a small, young, early-stage company developing microbial biotherapeutics for conditions arising on the skin that can be addressed by using the microbiome. The products are in three categories: consumer products containing proprietary microbe strains, pharmaceuticals using microbes to produce and deliver therapeutic proteins to the skin, and “novel bioactive compounds” derived by genetic engineering of commensal microbes. At this point, the company has a pipeline of four candidates, almost all still at the discovery or preclinical stages, for treating a range of skin conditions: eczema and ichthyosis vulgaris, Netherton syndrome, inflammatory disease in psoriasis, rashes associated with cancer treatment, and cosmetic use (rough, dry skin). The first cosmetic clinical study began in January 2019.