Euprotec And Cantab Sign Into Novel Antibiotic Partnership

Euprotec and Cantab Anti-infectives announced that the companies have entered into a collaboration to jointly discover and develop improved antibiotics against multi-drug resistant Gram negative bacterial infections.

According to the newly released report from the World Health Organization (WHO), antimicrobial resistance has become an increasingly serious threat to global public health. Antibiotic resistance can now be found in all parts of the world and new resistance mechanisms are emerging and spreading worldwide. WHO noted high proportions of antibiotic resistance in bacteria that cause common infections such as pneumonia and bloodstream infections in all global regions. While development of antimicrobial resistance is a natural phenomenon, new antibiotics and drugs are needed to arrest the growth and spread of bacteria resistance to treatments.

Under the new agreement, Euprotec will assist Cantab in accelerating development of improved therapeutics based on the polymxin core. Polymyxins are a significant class of antibiotics with a unique target, and are considered a last resort treatment in severe infections caused by multi-drug resistant Gram negative bacteria.

Dr Lloyd Payne, CEO of Euprotec, said, “We are thrilled that Cantab has selected Euprotec as its infectious disease biology partner for this program. Multidrug resistant Gram negative bacterial infections pose an enormous threat, and we look forward to working with Cantab to realize the exciting potential of their antibiotic platform.”

In return, Euprotec will provide microbiology expertise and resources to Cantab to speed identification and optimization of a new drug candidate. The collaborative approach will help in the profiling of PKPD parameters to allow translation of preclinical data to clinical trials.

Dr Mike Dawson, Cantab CEO, said that they chose Euprotec as the company’s main biology partner for the program for its broad portfolio as well as its expertise in infectious disease therapeutic area. “The specialist knowledge and technical skills that Euprotec provides will supplement our in-house research team perfectly and we are looking forward to working with them as we progress our discovery and development program,” said Dr. Dawson.