ADJANTICS

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the most urgent global risk for public health according to WHO, as the emergence and rapid spread of new drug resistances concurs with more than a decade shortage of new antimicrobials. By 2050, an estimated 10 million lives per year will be at risk. The shortage of effective antimicrobials to treat infections caused by multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria is particularly critical. Because last resort antimicrobials such as colistin are being also comprom... ised, clinical cases of pan resistance (no treatment option) are already a much too frequent fact. The discovery of new targets and modes of action has thus become a pressing need, together with the potentiation of the antimicrobial activity of current antibiotics. Adjantics is an integrated Platform to discover and develop new antimicrobials and adjuvants with novel mechanisms of action to increase the efficacy of antibiotic therapies and help them overcome AMR in combination therapy, particularly against the most problematic Gram-negative pathogens. Currently, the platform is advancing a Colistin-Potentiator Program that involves the development of adjuvant candidates to enhance the activity of this last-resort antibiotic. A potentiator of the activity of colistin may not only enable a lower clinical dosage of this toxic antibiotic but also increase its efficacy against resistant strains.More