Efforts to develop novel antibiotics are hampered by a number of scientific and regulatory hurdles that cannot be easily tackled by any individual organisation
The University of Liverpool and the Royal Liverpool University Hospital are part of a large European and pharmaceutical partnership to develop new antibiotic treatments.
The Combatting Bacterial Resistance in Europe – Molecules Against Gram-Negative Infections (COMBACTE-MAGNET), project is part of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), bringing together 33 European academic partners and five pharmaceuticals in research activities to prevent and treat infections that have become resistant to antibiotics.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing problem worldwide, and with few new drugs making it to the market, there is an urgent need for new medicines to manage infections caused by resistant pathogens. Most problematic is the rapid emergence and dissemination of multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria.
Efforts to develop novel antibiotics are hampered by a number of scientific and regulatory hurdles that cannot be easily tackled by any individual organisation working alone.
Clinical trials
The Liverpool team will conduct the first-in-human clinical trials and identify the optimal dosage for patients with life threatening infection for which there are currently severely limited treatment options.
Professor William Hope, from the University’s Institute of Translational Medicine, said: “We have developed the necessary infrastructure and skills that are required for the accelerated development of new antibiotics with activity against drug resistant bacteria.
“The IMI award builds on an existing research theme within the Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology for the development of new drugs for bad bugs.”
Life-threatening
Richard Fitzgerald, consultant physician at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, said: “We are uniquely placed to work together to deliver this important project. The combination of the Clinical Research Unit at the Royal Liverpool and the Antimicrobial Pharmacodynamics & Therapeutics Laboratory at the University means that Liverpool can directly contribute to the development of new drugs that are urgently required for the NHS.”
The COMBACTE-MAGNET project will develop new treatment options for patients with life-threatening infections due to bacterial infections that are resistant to current antibiotics.
