Evotec, ANTRUK collaborate to discover antibiotic resistance breakers

The parties did not disclose financial details about the collaboration, under which they will find alternative means of treating infections that are resistant to existing antibiotics.

The ARBs will be used in conjunction with known antibiotics with an intention to reverse resistance and restore clinical utility of such antibiotics.

The collaboration will use Evotec's anti-infectives site in Manchester, as well as its screening facility at the company’s Toulouse site.

Evotec said that the discovery of a new class of antibiotics has evaded the industry for more than 50 years and the threat of antimicrobial resistance has also been increased.

Recently, the former Goldman Sachs chief and now UK Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord Jim O'Neill, released a report, highlighting the need for new business models to fund and incentivise the discovery of new therapies for the treatment of drug-resistant infections.

Evotec CEO Werner Lanthaler said: "The combination of Evotec's science and infrastructures, alongside charities and foundations like ANTRUK, allows highly capital-efficient drug discovery processes.

“This is especially important for addressing the dramatic threat of multi-drug resistant bacterial infections where time is of essence to come up with new treatments."

A network of UK scientists and clinicians have established ANTRUK to educate the publicon microbial resistance, promote the discovery and development of new antibiotic therapies, and support those currently living with antibiotic-resistant infections.

Antibiotic Research UK chief executive Colin Garner said: “Evotec's facilities and expertise make it an ideal partner for this first project and it is exciting to see some action finally being taken as no new classes of antibiotics, against Gram-negative bacteria, have been introduced for the past 30 years.

“It is vital that new treatments are found if we are to avoid a catastrophe in the future."