Antimicrobials

A partnership has been set up to promote the development of new treatments to tackle the global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Innovate UK, LifeArc, and Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) have joined forces to create PACE (Pathways to Antimicrobial Clinical Efficacy), a £30 ($36) million initiative supporting early-stage innovation against AMR. PACE will select, invest […]

UK-based Cystic fibrosis (CF) Syndicate in Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) has announced a £3 million ($3.6 million) Collaborative Discovery Programme for drug discovery innovators to accelerate the development of new treatments for people with CF. Funded by UK medical research charity LifeArc, the programme will support approximately five collaborative projects that aim to rapidly identify new […]

Cresset Discovery and the University of Exeter have entered a collaboration to discovery novel antimicrobial drugs.  Cresset Discovery will use virtual screening to identify promising new candidates, building on research led by Dr Stefano Pagliara.  Virtual screening enables chemists to explore new chemical space, discover diverse chemotypes and generate new IP.  Antimicrobials play a fundamental […]

For World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (18-24 November), DDW’s Diana Spencer provides an overview of the latest news in antimicrobial resistance and drug discovery.  1. New class of antibiotics for TB A first-in-class investigational antitubercular agent has shown early bactericidal activity with a low, once-daily oral dose after 14 days of treatment.   The Phase IIa study […]

An Oxford University study has provided the first evidence that antibiotic resistant bacteria can travel from the gut to the lung, increasing the risk of deadly infections.  The findings coincide with World Antimicrobial Awareness Week and shed light on how antimicrobial resistance (AMR) arises and persists.   The study, which has been published in Nature Communications […]

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published draft guidance recommending the use of two new antimicrobial drugs to be used as part of a subscription style model within the healthcare system.   NICE has evaluated cefiderocol and ceftazidime–avibactam as part of a project with NHS England and NHS Improvement and the Department […]

Research from the Francis Crick Institute has revealed a key mechanism that increases tolerance to drugs amongst microbial communities. The findings could help the development of more effective antifungal treatments.    Background  Antimicrobial drug resistance and tolerance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites no longer respond, or have less sensitivity, to treatments. It is […]

Dr. Tom Knapman, Director of Strategic Brand at SCIEX, explains how bioconvergent advances will help to drive key health trends in the coming year. As we move into 2022, we will see more and more advances in bioconvergence – biological, physical, and computing technologies inspired by nature. We expect these top five trends to exemplify […]

 The AMR Action Fund, a public-private partnership supporting the development of new antibiotics to address rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR), has appointed William (Bill) Burns as Board Chair.   Burns has worked in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry throughout his life, providing invaluable experience for his role as Board Chair today, when the need for novel […]

The Bloomsbury SET, a knowledge exchange programme led by The Royal Veterinary College (RVC), has been awarded £1.9 million from Research England. Beginning in July 2021, the year-long project aims to commercialise research into infectious disease and antimicrobial resistance. Building on the current work of The Bloomsbury SET, this new programme, entitled “The Bloomsbury SET: […]

Ineos, one of the world’s largest manufacturing companies, and the University of Oxford are launching a new world-leading institute to combat the growing global issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which currently causes an estimated 1.5 million excess deaths each year- and could cause over 10m deaths per year by 2050. Predicted to also create a […]

Antibiotics & Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) – A Global Perspective Professor Anthony Coates and Dr Yanmin Hu Antibiotic resistance is at a crossroad. In the world today, deaths in low income countries from Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) are predicted to rise dramatically by 2050. We know how to stop this disaster, and some steps are being taken […]

The Human Microbiome – A new frontier in drug discovery By Lee Jones There is a new phenomenon sweeping the globe (or at least sweeping the imagination of people around the globe). It is the human gut microbiome and the role it may play in the future of human health. Recent reports have indicated that […]

Anti-Infective Immunotherapy For Treating Hospital Acquired Infections By Dr Vu Truong, Dr Nadine Weich, Dr Andreas Loos and Dr Eric Patzer The frequency of nosocomial (acquired in healthcare facility) pneumonia has experienced a steady increase in recent years, and treatment of these infections has become more challenging and expensive due to the emergence of multi-drug […]

Exploring The Feasibility of Human Antimicrobial Peptides For New and More Efficient Antibiotics By Dr Max Ryadnov To help combat decades of stagnation in antibiotic development, a team led by the National Physical Laboratory conducted two studies into the antimicrobial peptides that fight infection in our bodies and the feasibility of using them as the […]

Meeting the challenge of healthcare-associated infections with new antimicrobials: with a focus on Clostridium difficile By Professor Peter Hawkey and Dr Katie Hardy Healthcare-associated infections (HCAI), previously known as hospital acquired infections (HAI), are defined as infections resulting from medical care or treatment in hospital. HCAI may be caused by any infectious agent from endogenous […]