Project description
Finding drugs that resist antibiotic resistance in pathogens
Antibiotic resistance in pathogens was accelerated by the inappropriate use of antibiotics, resulting in the spread of multi-drug resistant bacteria that made current antibiotics ineffective and the commercial success of new antimicrobial drugs unpredictable. Drug developers need new tools to identify drugs less prone to resistance evolution at an early stage of the drug development process. A recently developed technology, DIvERGE enables the screening of resistance evolution in potential drugs efficiently and comprehensively. The EU-funded AWARE project aims to introduce and commercialise this technology to help drug companies identify and develop antibiotics that are resistant to the development of drug resistance!
Objective
The inappropriate use of antibiotics has rapidly accelerated antibiotic resistance evolution in pathogens, rendering several existing antibiotics ineffective. However, many pharmaceutical companies have discontinued their antibiotic research programs. This is foremost due to the rapid spread of multi-drug resistant bacteria, which makes the commercial success of new antimicrobial drugs unpredictable. Antibiotic developers do not have a toolset to appropriately test antibiotic candidates for resistance evolution. Specifically, in the early phase of drug development, researchers typically identify numerous lead molecules with antimicrobial activities. It would be imperative to estimate the rate of resistance evolution at this early stage of development to all lead candidates in order to choose those that are the least prone to resistance evolution. The applicant and his team developed a technology, they term DIvERGE. It enables the exploration of resistance in a manner that is more comprehensive and effective than any other currently used approach. In a nutshell, DIvERGE finds resistance mutations in antibiotic resistance genes at an unprecedentedly comprehensive manner . DIvERGE offers a unique opportunity for pharmaceutical companies to identify antimicrobial agents with potentially longer clinical efficacy at an early stage of drug development. Thus, the goal is simple and bold – to identify antibiotics that are less prone to resistance development. Here the team aims to commercialise the technology.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacydrug discovery
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsmutation
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsantibiotics
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacydrug resistancemultidrug resistance
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacydrug resistanceantibiotic resistance
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-POC-LS - ERC Proof of Concept Lump Sum PilotHost institution
6726 Szeged
Hungary