UB participates in a €85 million European project to develop new antibiotics
Over 30 European universities and European companies, led by the multinational pharmaceutical GlaxoSmithKline and Uppsala University (Sweden), collaborate in the project ENABLE (European Gram Negative Antibacterial Engine), a programme funded by Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) to develop novel antibiotics to treat infections produced by Gram-negative bacteria which are resistant to multiple drugs. In general, these pathogens are opportunistic and produce nosocomial infections in intensive care units at hospitals, for instance pneumonia.
Over 30 European universities and European companies, led by the multinational pharmaceutical GlaxoSmithKline and Uppsala University (Sweden), collaborate in the project ENABLE (European Gram Negative Antibacterial Engine), a programme funded by Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) to develop novel antibiotics to treat infections produced by Gram-negative bacteria which are resistant to multiple drugs. In general, these pathogens are opportunistic and produce nosocomial infections in intensive care units at hospitals, for instance pneumonia.
The programme works with seven lines of compounds developed across Europe. One of them has been developed by Professor Francesc Rabanal, from the Department of Organic Chemistry of the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Barcelona (UB).
The main goal of this six-year project is to establish a significant anti-bacterial drug discovery platform for the progression of research programmes through discovery and Phase 1 clinical trials (first administration to humans in which no more than one hundred healthy individuals participate). Then, the programme will be expanded through open calls with the ultimate goal to deliver at least one novel anti-bacterial candidate against Gram negative infections into Phase 2 clinical trials by 2019.
The antibiotic crisis
Nowadays, the world faces a growing epidemic of antibiotic resistance; however, only two new types of antibiotics have been brought to the market in the last 30 years. The discovery and development of new antibiotics is essential to maintain medical advances but poses significant scientific, clinical, and financial challenges, particularly for antibiotics active against Gram-negative bacteria such as E.coli, P. aeruginosa or A. baumannii. Such bacteria have effective barriers against drugs, so treatment is difficult and development costs and risks are high. In addition, any new antibiotic brought to the market would likely be used cautiously to delay the development of resistance, adding an additional financial challenge in recouping development costs.
Public private route forward
In response to such barriers to the development of novel antibiotics, IMI has launched the programme New Drugs for Bad Bugs (ND4BB), a series of projects to target the bottlenecks in the development and effective use of novel antibiotics. The project ENABLE is the third one of the series ND4BB.
In the EU, around two million patients acquire infections at hospitals, and nearly 175,000 of them die. Infections produced by bacteria which are resistant to multiple drugs cost an estimated of €1,500 million per year to the EU.
The project ENABLE has the mission to mobilise expertise from universities and industry in Europe to meet global challenges and place Europe at the forefront of collaborative research between industry and academia for health challenges.
According to Professor Rabadal, “ENABLE is a really competitive project that has selected the best laboratories that have the best antibiotic candidates across Europe. Each antibiotic line will be evaluated every three months”. For the moment, the research of UB is in the project for two years; during this period of time, details the expert, “the chemical synthesis will be done and the action mechanism of the compound line will be studied with a maximum budget of 751,000 euros”. “In two years —he adds—, if we have provided new compounds, we will continue competing”. It is also important to highlight that funding will enable to employ two researchers.
The Bosch i Gimpera Foundation (FBG-UB) has applied for the patent that protects the compound developed by Dr Rabanal. The Foundation has also applied for the project and negotiated with other partners of the consortium those aspects concerning intellectual property rights of projectʼs results. Moreover, the European Research Project Office of FBG-UB will be responsible for the finance management of the project.
Innovative Medicines Initiative is Europe's largest public-private initiative aiming to speed up the development of better and safer medicines for patients. With a 2 billion euro budget, it is composed by the European Commission and large biopharmaceutical companies that are members of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).