PReclinical EVAluation and Investigation of Laterocidamide - A novel antibiotic from a new drug class to overcome polymyxin resistance.

Introduction

The emergence of Gram-negative bacterial resistance against antibiotics, especially the last-line-of-defense polymyxins, presents a societal threat with the potential to inflict higher healthcare costs and life-threatening patient risks. For decades, physicians have relied on polymyxins as a last line of defense to treat resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections that do not respond to standard antibiotic therapies.

Background

However, in 2016, a new polymyxin resistance mechanism surfaced: mobilized colistin resistance (MCR-1). The global overuse of antibiotics, including polymyxins, and a persistent lack of novel antibiotics have made us vulnerable to increased bacterial resistance, including the MCR-1 strains, seriously threatening our public health.

Project Overview

In Project PREVAIL, our group will validate the effectiveness of a novel drug, Laterocidamide (LATERO), from a new class of antibiotics to deliver an innovative solution that can mitigate the alarming global surge of antibiotic resistance.

LATERO's Potential

Our novel synthetic antibiotic, LATERO, has best-in-class potential to address these challenges with:

1. Minimal antimicrobial resistance
2. Gram-negative bacterial efficacy against polymyxin-resistant strains
3. The ability to be produced at low cost

Moreover, our robust synthetic approach will allow us to generate additional analogs in the future.

Objectives

In PREVAIL, we will explore LATERO's technical and commercial potential. Specifically, we will validate LATERO as a novel antibiotic for (multi-drug-resistant) Gram-negative bacterial infections by performing in vitro and in vivo efficacy and preclinical toxicity studies.

Additional Actions

In parallel, we will:

1. Analyze the IP position and develop an IP rights strategy to protect LATERO and new analogs developed in the project to secure future assets.
2. Evaluate LATERO’s commercial feasibility and construct viable business cases to enter the market to support outreach and procuring future funding opportunities.