Oragenics, Inc., an innovative biotechnology company developing several health-care products, including a revolutionary approach to fighting tooth decay, recently broke ground on its new facility, which will serve as both corporate headquarters and R&D laboratories. The company, headed by Dr. Jeffrey Hillman and Mento “Chuck” Soponis, has already garnered more than $16 million in research grants, primarily from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. The company has taken an aggressive approach to developing products designed to improve oral and periodontal health for patients of all ages. Most people think that tooth decay is caused by sugar in the foods we eat. The truth is that a common bacterium always present in our mouths turns the sugar in foods and beverages into lactic acid, which actually eats away at the enamel of the tooth leading to tooth decay and finally, cavities. Now, Oragenics has found a way to genetically modify that bacteria – streptococcus mutans – so that it no longer coverts sugar into lactic acid, hence, eliminating the agent that causes tooth decay. While there are more than 500 species of bacteria in the human mouth, Oragenics has selected the one that is naturally dominant so that once the genetically modified version of that strain is introduced into the mouth, it will colonize the tooth surface and exclude all other decay-causing bacteria. Once approved by the FDA, Oragenics’ specially designed bacterium would be administered by a dentist through an oral rinse, much like mouthwash, that could leave patients cavity-free for life. The company calls this novel approach to dental hygiene “replacement therapy” and it has already undergone laboratory and animal studies. The company expects to receive approval of its Investigational New Drug (IND) application from the Food and Drug Administration by the end of this year. Once the IND is approved, Oragenics can begin human clinical trials. The company hopes to have the product to market by 2009. In addition to its oral hygiene products, Oragenics has several other products in development, including a new type of broad-spectrum antibiotic. Preliminary research indicates that pathogens resistant to the other major antibiotics, such as penicillin and vancomycin, succumb to and do not become resistant to this new antibiotic. Oragenics is just one of a number of innovative life science companies growing out of technology developed at the University of Florida. Other companies include Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation, Ixion Biotechnology and EcoArray. Many of these companies, like Oragenics, began life as ideas percolating in the minds of UF professors, scientists and engineers. Several of the companies then took up residence in the Sid Martin Biotechnology Development Incubator, UF’s 35,000-square-foot facility designed to provide start-ups with the support essential for bringing their ideas to the marketplace. To learn more about Oragenics, please visit the company’s Web site at www.oragenics.com.