Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious emerging threat for patients and the healthcare systems. It has been anticipated by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in Britain that AMR has the potential to reduce Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 3.5% globally and to kill an additional 10 million people by 2050, and as such the topic is of high importance to the public.
Completed project
Our working group will highlight the efforts made in the field by academics and industry alike and raise awareness on the urgency of action and proposes the use of an old nitrofuran drug for future development of potent antimicrobials by intense study of its use, potency, and the fundamental science behind its mode of action and resistance mechanisms. The inclusion of distinguished and prominent scientists in the field coming from different backgrounds will emphasize a multidisciplinary effort is needed to tackle the serious problem of AMR in a timely fashion.
Network partners
- Klaas Martinus Pos, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany (Coordinator)
This network includes 10 partners, please click on the following link to see complete network composition: Network composition Inhibition of antimicrobial drug resistance: Exploiting an old drug as a basis for inhibitory discovery (EXPLOIT)
Popular summary
The alarming increase in the numbers of infections by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens in the EU calls for new strategies and solutions to address bacterial resistance mechanisms. In response to a call from the Goethe University Frankfurt and the University of Birmingham, UK, researchers from both institutions held a 2-day workshop in March 2016 with the aim of designing new strategies and solutions to drug resistance mechanisms. This workshop identified that there is an unmet need for a new oral agent active against multi-drug resistant Enterobacteriaceae causing urinary tract infections (UTIs) including in the elderly. To further address the question of feasibility of such a research proposal, we proposed a new network group including researchers from the Birmingham workshop plus additional experts with skills in medical microbiology, pharmacokinetics, in vivo models, and drug discovery/development in industry.
We organized a two-day event. On the first day, a conference in Frankfurt was held including talks from the WG members and invited experts in the field, discussion and opinion sessions. On day two, a working group meeting was held to distil all aspects of the conference and to formulate a research programme which will be the basis of an application to a H2020 call. This event was followed by a meeting on September 28th, 2017 in Frankfurt. Here the Work Packages were defined for a proposed consortium, as well as identification of potential funding opportunities. Moreover, we selected members of the consortium to contribute to a special issue on nitrofurantoin, focussing on its mechanism of action, resistance, PK/PD, and
