National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded a $36m contract to develop Tetraphase’s antibiotic for respiratory disease, TP-271.

The NIAID award covers development, manufacturing, and clinical activities to position TP-271 for further development against certain biothreat agents, including Francisella tularensis and bacterial pathogens associated with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP).

The company said it will be working on this contract as a sub-contractor to New York, US-based independent not-for-profit scientific company CUBRC.

Tetraphase president and CEO Guy Macdonald said Tetraphase and CUBRC share NIAID’s commitment to addressing the global concerns of bioterrorism and antibiotic resistance.