Aequor's novel chemicals kill Superbugs

Biocides, antibiotics, vaccines, human and animal immune systems are designed to kill free-floating pathogens. They are rendered ineffective once the pathogen forms a shield called biofilm.  It is no coincidence that every pathogen on the WHO and CDC lists of priority, pandemic, and bioterrorist threats is a biofilm-former – as is every antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) Superbug and, according to recent literature, COVID-19.

Aequor discovered a new genus and several new species of marine microbes that produce small molecules with potent antibiofilm and antimicrobial activity against a broad spectrum of AMR pathogens. Our portfolio of 70 “green,” non-toxic chemical analogs include new animal and human drug candidates (the NIH and DOD offered us free pre-clinical trials), ingredients for enhanced surface cleaners (proven superior in high-traffic public places), and water treatments (NASA validated that Aequor chemicals were the only remedy for use in Space, where biofilm forms thicker and faster than on Earth).

There are currently no FDA-approved cures for AMR/ Superbug infection or disease and no sterilization or decontamination technologies of long duration.  In 2016, after confirming 700,000 AMR/Superbug deaths globally, the UN declared AMR the biggest threat to mankind’s survival, projecting over 10 million deaths/year by 2050.  The social and economic impacts are incalculable.

Aequor’s chemicals kill AMR Superbugs and prevent biofilm formation for days (and over 1 year in a water treatment, as validated by NASA). Upon validating that Aequor’s chemicals removed biofilm in minutes, Lonza confirmed that “nothing else known can remove biofilm at non-toxic doses.” The NIH/NIAID and DOD/AMRIID offered Aequor free pre-clinical trials of up to 9 molecules as breakthrough new drugs (valued at $18M). 

Until Aequor raises a Series A to pursue new drug development, the Company first focused on incorporating 25 of its “green” chemicals that are approved under the EPA Toxic Substances Control Act in industrial products, such as anti-AMR surface cleaners. Our project with a major international airport involves improving protocols for high-traffic/touch surfaces. Aequor was selected in a Global Health Security Network project to develop recommendations for the African CDC for enhanced sanitization of public places (airports, markets, schools, etc.).

Aequor discovered novel natural small molecules that eliminate biofilm and microbial contamination from inert, nano, and organic surfaces, animal and human tissues.  The molecules are produced by a new genus and several new species of marine microbes that Aequor discovered. The primary natural molecule was semi-purified in milligram quantities via fermentation and tested against a broad spectrum of AMR Superbugs.

The NIAID Biodefense and Emerging Infections (BEI) Resources grants Aequor access to its latest AMR and multidrug-resistant (MDR) clinical strains. Aequor’s molecule is active against Staphylococcus aureus (Methicillin-resistant/MRSA, vancomycin-intermediate/VISA, vancomycin-resistant/VRSA); Pseudomonas aeruginosa (type 2 mucoid mutant associated with Cystic Fibrosis, carbapenem-R, P179  gentamycin-R, streptomycin-R, sulfonamide-R, ampicillin-R, amoxicillin-R, metal ion-R); E. coli (serotype O157:H7 streptomycin-R, sulfisoxazole-R, tetracycline-R); Acinetobacter baumannii (carbapenem-R); Enterobacteriaceae (carbapenem-R, ESBL-producing); Salmonella enterica (Serovar Typhimurium fluoroquinolone-R, ampicillin-R, chloramphenicol-R, kanamycin-R, sulfa-trimethoprim-R, triple sulfa-R, streptomycin-R, tetracycline-R, ceftazidime-R); and Candida auris and Aspergillus fungi.  Aequor’s primary natural molecule also “potentiates” otherwise ineffective antibiotics to kill the Superbugs (e.g. penicillin kills MRSA and VRSA).  This makes global treatment accessible in the event of an outbreak.  

Aequor’s 70 synthesized chemical analogs mimic the features of the primary natural molecule: 30 for Pharma and 40 for end-uses that contribute to One Health goals.

Aequor’s mission since 2006 has been to prevent AMR biofilm, infection and disease and advance the UN One Health goals by developing novel therapeutics for animals and humans and enhanced treatments and protocols for clean water, food, and surfaces.  

The fact that the word “pandemic” was not fully understood until 2020 and that the words “biofilm” and “One Health” are still not widely known indicates the scope of knowledge gaps that exist in the national/global preparedness plans.  Aequor’s Founders consult for multinationals, industry organizations, and public health authorities, and have been recently tapped by legislators to identify gaps in appropriations because, despite $billions spent for decades, there are still no remedies stockpiled against AMR pandemic threats. The longer the gaps remain, the more devastating the impacts will be on human life and our socio-economic fabric. 

Aequor formulated cleaners and water treatments validated by USDA, NASA and DOE as having superior efficacy against AMR pathogens in clinical, agro-industrial and household vectors of transmission. These need marketing/a strategic partnership for wider use. Aequor seeks support to develop and scale up the novel natural chemical and analogs so that the pre-clinical trials can begin and effective cures fast-tracked to the markeplace.

Aequor’s Co-Founder was invited to speak about biofilm and One Health at the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AMR in 2016, where AMR was declared a global threat to mankind.  Aequor’s antibiofilm remedies can provide cures accessible to developing countries, potentiate ineffective antibiotics to combat AMR, prevent infection and disease and control pandemic spread.  

Aequor is focused on launching superior water treatments and cleaners containing its proprietary EPA/TSCA chemicals and pursuing opportunities opened through the Global Health Security Network and its mentors affiliated with the CDC of Africa to recommend improved protocols and capacity-building.

The Pew Trust and other organizations track the new drugs in the “FDA pipeline” = various stages of clinical trials.  https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2019/09/tracking-the-global-pipeline-of-antibiotics-in-development

90% of them customarily fail because they cannot work in the presence of biofilm. Others have narrow targets that are not useful in a pandemic. Thhe NIH offered to test Aequor molecles against target viruses.  

Aequor’s competitive advantages are that our small molecules work against a broad-spectrum of AMR bacteria and fungi, remove biofilm in minutes, are effective for days, and can potentiate obsolete antibiotics to work at low doses, guaranteeing accessibility for the global population to remedies in the event of an outbreak.  They are all non-toxic and “green” but segmented by regulatory barrier: novel natural antimicrobials discovered in the coral reef environment; novel analogs earmarked to be new drug candidates; natural analogs for use as antimicrobial, antibiofilm and antifouling agents in agro-industrial and consumer products; and specialty chemicals, including dispersants and cleaning agents, already EPA/TSCA approved and available for immediate sale in commercial (ton) quantities.  

Aequor’s trade secrets include the marine microbes, which Founder Burzell named, and hundreds of natural chemicals that they produce.  Dr. Burzell unmatched expertise in biofilm, its role in microbial resistance, and over 20 years’ experience providing microbial testing gives Aequor an edge in the early verticals it is targeting: water treatments, surface cleaners and associated testing services.

Aequor follows the One Health approach to pandemic control, focusing on eradicating biofilm formation on inert, nano and organic surfaces, animal and human tissues. Once the biofilm matrix is formed, it captures ambient particles and pathogens, enveloping them as the biofilm builds.  The different pathogens in the same biofilm share genetic material, spawning new mutations and resistant strains.  Biofilm builds, sloughs off, becomes air and water-borne, and spreads its contents to other surfaces. This has direct impact on CBRN and EID threats and, according to clean room operators, the harshest biocides, gas fogging, sonication, and other methodologies cannot remove biofilm.  No surface can be considered sterile and decontaminated until biofilm is completely removed. 

U.S. agencies and major private companies undertook validation testing over the past 3 years and paid Aequor for the chemicals and Dr. Burzell’s consulting services.  Each company interested in buying our chemicals and formulated products have different needs, so the pilot projects we have concluded have enabled us to focus on developing basic products using compounds that are easy to customize for different end uses. 

Aequor is withholding publications until its provisional patents published on validated products:

 --Surface cleaners:  The USDA validated the superior performance of our cleaners for animal and human hygiene and surface cleaning. 

 --Water treatments: Over the course of a 3-year project, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center demonstrated that Aequor’s treatment was the only non-toxic remedy that eradicated contamination from the water recycling/reuse system used on board the International Space Station. One dose lasted over a year, and NASA awarded Aequor its ITech prize in Life Support category for ensuring astronaut health in long-duration manned Space travel. NASA presented a paper on this project at the International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES) conference in July 2019.  Aequor was selected by the U.S. government to represent American innovation at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in The Hague, and was honored by the Queen of the Netherlands for its discoveries.

 --Industrial process enhancement - Aequor is currently in a pilot project with a major oil and gas company (name withheld) and the Department of Energy at Sandia National Laboratory. 

Aequor is a chemical company at the cutting edge of 3 trends: Green Chemistry, Clean Water, AMR.  Since our answer exceeds the word limit, in summary, after interviewing hundreds of potential customers in each sector since 2009, Aequor developed its approach to each:

--Green Chemistry:  Aequor’s versatile portfolio of chemicals can replace the toxic biocides used in most industrial and consumer products. All of the major chemical companies, formulators and retailers claim that they want to reverse their images as pollutors and vendors of toxic products by supporting environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. 

     -Since 2002, these companies have all vied for inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

     -In March 2015, Executive Order 13693, Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade, required that all government procurement agents buy products with “BioPreferred” content, despite price.  This impacted $445 billion worth of goods and services bought by federal agencies in 2015.

     -Several of the nation’s largest retailers adopted new “chemical footprinting” assessment and disclosure policies.  In 2015, Walmart told suppliers it would stop stocking ban 8 chemicals from its shelves.  This impacted 90,000 products and led the way for Target, P&G and other retailers to follow suit  (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-walmart-chemicals-idUSKCN1002IJ). 

The global market for green chemistry, which includes biobased chemicals, renewable feedstocks, green polymers and less-toxic chemical formulations, is projected to exceed $100 billion this year.

--Clean Water:  In addition to growing scarcity, water sources and systems are contaminated with every AMR pathogen (including COVID) under a biofilm shield. Absent effective remedies against biofilm at low concentrations, toxic and ineffective biocides/antibiotics are being overused, creating a toxic load on ecosystems and organisms, and triggering a stronger resistance response and growth of thicker biofilm.  Additionally, the glue-like biofilm attracts and captures other species of bacteria, fungi and contaminants that all share genetic material.  This acquisition of virulence gene clusters through horizontal gene transfer not only confers multi-drug resistance but also spawns more virulent strains -- the Superbugs. 

--AMR:  Aequor’s work to curb pandemic threats is far more urgent than Green Chemistry and Clean Water and affects everyone, everywhere.

100      1000    300,000,000

Aequor can enter the markets as regulatory approvals and funding are obtained. Therefore, Aequor’s low hanging fruit are EPA/TSCA-approved “green” chemicals and products containing them – a $50B market including surface cleaners, water treatments and some industrial process enhancers.  Aequor determined that the fastest pathways to proof point, reduced burn rate, and some form of protection for Aequor includes pursuing a multi-pronged approach:

While these activities are generating revenues estimated x30 on a $500K investment, the Company will seek funding and/or a collaborator to develop and biosynthesize the primary natural chemical for use in the $300B antimicrobial market.  The primary natural chemical and natural analogs will require regulatory approval under the EPA Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

Aequor will also seek funding and/or a collaborator to develop, chemically-synthesize and scale up novel analogs of the primary natural chemical for use the $350B antibiotic market.  The analogs will require FDA-approval.

Funding is the highest barrier. Before the COVID outbreak, Pharma had divested their anti-infective research units citing low ROI, and investors abandoned the field seeing that the customary acquisition Exit had disappeared for Pharma start-ups.  Today, the Government has filled the void, funding COVID remedies and increasing the AMR R&D appropriations.  Aequor was invited to apply for a NSF SBIR Phase I grant for COVID remedies.

            But this grant will not cover the primary natural chemical final elucidation or the synthesis of 9 novel analogs for new drug candidates, so $5M private funding or a chemical partner remains critical to be able to start the NIH/NIAID and DOD/AMRIID-funded pre-clinical trials. The BioMedical Advanced R&D Authority (BARDA) has already granted Aequor three TechWatches” and said that it would design the NIH pre-clinical trials so that at least one of the molecules would be fast-tracked through the FDA process as a Qualified Investigational Drug Product (QUDP) for expedited review.  After COVID, reviews have been in under one year.  Once the drug is approved Aequor is fully eligible for the U.S. Government “pull” incentives that were enacted to compensate companies for new AMR drug development, including extended patent exclusivity, tax incentives, and possibly a renegotiated reimbursements and a market entry bonus of est. $1 billion bonus for every new AMR antibiotic developed.  

            Absent the grant and funding, Aequor seeks $500K to launch its cleaning products and water treatments as solutions to curb the environmental pandemic spread.

Since funding is the major barrier, Aequor is networking to find a champion to take the lead on a Series A round and seize the opportunities to develop cures for COVID and AMR infection and disease and to launch effective surface cleaning products with the bonus of green, non-toxic chemical ingredients.

Aequor is applying for awards and government grants in the U.S. and EU.  Aequor is also looking at government sales in order to generate early revenues. Even before the coronavirus outbreak, Aequor was turning down solicitations that we received from government buyers (e.g. a solicitation for “green” cleaning products for all U.S. Air Force bases).  All U.S. government agencies (federal, state, county, municipal) are required to award 5% of contracts to WOSBs. Aequor has not raised the money needed for the logistics of government sales (dedicated employee, audit software, etc.), but has put some paperwork in order to resell a third party's formulated products under the Aequor label.

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21 people – 2 full-time; 1 part-time; 15 Advisors; 3 outside contractors

Aequor’s Founder and CSO, Cynthia Burzell (B.A. Mount Holyoke College, MSc and Ph.D. St. George's University), is a Marine and Medical Microbiologist.  She received TechAmerica's 2009 Abacus Award for Researcher of the Year for her discoveries, was protégé of Dr. William Costerton, the scientist who coined the term "biofilm," and has over 12 years’ experience managing Aequor’s lab staff, including Senior Chemist Mitch Nambu, lab operations (JLabs-San Diego), pilot projects with validating agencies, potential customers and outsourced CMOs and CROs.  Cynthia liases with Aequor’s Scientific Advisor Board, which includes:

Ikhlas Khan, Ph.D., Director of the U.S. National Center for Natural Products Research

Douglas Bartlett, Ph.D., professor of marine microbial genetics at UCSD  Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Victor Nizet, Ph.D. is UCSC professor coordinator of the CHARM Initiative, a consortium of researchers to combat AMR.

Gerry O'Dell, Ph.D., 30 years’ experience in J&J Advanced Sterilization division

Aequor’s co-Founder and CEO, Marilyn Bruno (Ph.D. NYU, J.D. New York Law School) has over 20 years’ international finance and business experience. She served 16 years as an Economic Officer in the State Department Foreign Service, including responsibility for the pandemic threat portfolio and virtual global project management. She manages Aequor’s corporate strategy and business development, supported by an outsourced management team and proactive business advisory board, including:

Susan MacIntosh, Ph.D., formerly with Monsanto and Bayer Crop Science

Toshiyasu Nagae, MSc, Applied Chemistry, with over 35 years’ experience in senior biocide company management, including as President of Union-Carbide/Dow Chemical in Japan, developing Aequor’s Asia strategy.

Aequor is an agile enterprise, engaging teams of specialists for each pilot project. The Company has little downside and has built considerable experience managing a continual flow of demand for pilot projects from all over the world.  The pilot projects assign no rights and allow Aequor to obtain performance data in multiple industries. 

In addition to USDA, NASA and DOE, Aequro has worked on pilot projects with companies it cannot name:

--one of top 3 water treatment companies

--one of top 4 “green” consumer product companies

--one of top 6 oil and gas companies

Aequor’s current projects in San Diego include providing microbiology testing to assess the efficacy of existing sanitation protocols followed by companies and public locations to remove COVID and Superbug surface contamination before they open up for business. 

Aequor also offers its unique water treatments to commercial and agro-industrial water system operators to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emission, particularly in closed-loop systems (cooling towers, HVAC, etc.) and desalination plants, and eliminate the bacterial load. 

Aequor’s main business model is licensing the use of selected chemicals to identified leaders in each target sector for rapid product development and market penetration.  Aequor will also sell chemicals B2B to product formulators in sectors not covered by licenses in Phases as regulatory barriers are overcome. Aequor also projects non-dilutive revenues from the sale of end-use products to government buyers as a Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB).

Licensing is desirable to provide rapid end-use product development and launch, particularly of formulated end-use products and Pharma products, which require costly regulatory approvals.   The licensing model mitigates Aequor’s start-up and operational risks and satisfies the following objectives:

• shortening ramp-up time for customer acquisition and lowering expenses for product development and launch into multiple target markets and territories;
• acquiring expertise for prototype development and regulatory, accelerated market penetration, publicity, quality control, customer service, etc.;
• generating early non-dilutive revenues: high up-fronts/advances pegged to market size and territories, royalties, milestone payments as volume targets are hit, and co-branding fees for products containing “Aequor.”  Three potential licensees have offered Aequor up-fronts “in kind” (e.g. undertaking environmental and FDA regulatory approvals in their respective territories, a grant-back clause for improvements on formulations, responsibility for patent prosecution, etc.). 

Aequor seeks equity investments, applies for awards and grants, and undertakes B2B sales to pilot project partners.

 Aequor currently seeks to raise an additional $500K to close out its Series Seed at $1.7M.  The funds will be used to launch B2B sales into EPA/TSCA-regulated markets and hire a business development VP to oversee marketing and a commissioned sales force for low hanging fruit. Aequor offers customers discounts on bulk orders and works virtually to train the customers’ teams for each project. supporting sales with on-going microbial testing services. Aequor remains an agile enterprise, servicing a growing number of customers along the biocide value chain (chemical giants, product formulators, end-users) seeking to replace the harmful products they are currently using without sacrificing performance.  Aequor’s projects breakeven in Year 2, with expansion of sales to Canada and the EU as regulatory approvals are obtained.  

The company will initiate a $10M Series A raise in Year 1 in order to hire a Marketing VP to manage scale-up and sales of EPA/TSCA products to commercial and government buyers, negotiate licensing deals, initiate chemical development and scale-up of the primary natural chemical and new drug candidates, and initiate regulatory approval of selected chemicals under EPA/FIFRA as antimicrobials. 

It will take more than a village to control the COVID pandemic threat globally, and to prepare for the AMR threats that are considered inevitable.  Aequor has a large library of unique and highly effective “green” chemical agents that have been demonstrated to be effective against Superbugs, long-lasting and non-toxic. Solve provides the network to the brainpower and tradecraft to assist Aequor in bringing its discoveries to their highest and best use. 

Solution technology:  Aequor seeks a chemical partner to develop and scale up the novel natural chemical and develop synthesized analogs as new drug candidates and biosynthesized analogs for the "natural" and "biobased" markets.

Product/service distribution: Aequor's cleaning products are developed are in high demand to control the pandemic spread.

Funding and revenue model:  Aequor seeks investors and customers.

Board members or advisors: Aequor is entering its commercialization phase and seeks a strong Board to assist in the driving sales and attracting high level partners.

Marketing, media and exposure:  To a certain degree, Aequor has been flying under the radar.  Expertise in marketing and media will help raise awareness of the Aequor brand and the critical work it is spearheading in biofim eradication, One Health and pandmic threat control.

Aequor went through the MIT Building Global Innovators program and is familiar with the MIT thesis to get the job done:  top network, top faculty, top resources.  Aequor would be honored to work with MIT faculty and Solve members.  We would particularly welcome the opportunity to lay out what we have done on a shoestring and see where better minds than ours can take these discoveries -- especially Lubna Alayan, Eric Schmidt, and Linda Henry.

The Solve Advisors are the thought leaders that have every tool in their toolbox to influence the direction of the use of public and private funds to develop remedies that actually work:

--stop the spread of the virus from surfaces with non-toxic products that remove biofilm and last longer than anything on the market

--develop cures for AMR pathogens that are inexpensive, immediately available and rapidly accessible

--knock down future outbreaks at the 3 vectors of transmission before they can spread

Aequor’s mission statement to focus on people, profit and planet is not meant trivially.  Aequor’s Founder has utilized deep understanding of Marine and Medical Microbiology to discover Nature’s mechanism to eliminate the ability of pathogens to attach to surfaces: marine-derived chemicals that remove biofilm and prevent its formation, eliminating the pathogens’ ability to colonize on surfaces under water, on land and in Space.  Superbugs shield themselves from sterilization, immune systems, vaccines, biocides and antibiotics by forming thicker biofilm, which results in the incurable infection and disease that we see today. 

While Aequor seeks support to develop and scale-up the broad-spectrum novel chemicals as new drug candidates to be able to meet the urgent need to save lives, Aequor’s portfolio of “green,” non-toxic synthesized analogs are commercially available and incorporated in cleaning products to prevent the Superbug spread now.  These products can achieve contamination-free surfaces for unmatched periods of time for use in public places, clinics, offices, factories, farms, and in the home.  Instead of throwing harsh biocides and massive doses of antibiotics against antimicrobial-resistant Superbugs that end up in our water supplies and soils and trigger additional resistance, Aequor offers non-toxic remedies that work.

Our future and that our planet depends on what we do today. Aequor’s tools can be developed and deployed rapidly, widely and inexpensively to get an edge on the current massive Superbug problem and prepare for the future threats.