Microcide Pharmaceuticals

Microcide Pharmaceuticals was a biopharmaceutical company founded in 1992 and based in Mountain View, California, specializing in the discovery and development of novel antibiotics to combat drug-resistant bacterial infections. The company utilized proprietary technology platforms, including VALID Microbial Genomics and Efflux Pump Inhibition (EPI), to identify new drug targets and develop potentiators that could restore the efficacy of existing antibiotics. Microcide established significant strategic collaborations with major pharmaceutical firms such as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson (Ortho-McNeil), and Daiichi Pharmaceutical to advance its pipeline of targeted antibacterials. Its lead candidates included MC-02,479 (RWJ-54428), a cephalosporin for MRSA, and MC-207,110, a first-in-class efflux pump inhibitor. In 2001, Microcide merged with Althexis to form Essential Therapeutics, which aimed to integrate structure-based drug design with Microcide's genomics-driven discovery engine.