Inhibition of antimicrobial drug resistance: Exploiting an old drug as a basis for inhibitory discovery
Interventions
- Klaas Martinus Pos, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany (Coordinator)
- Annie Ducher, DaVolterra, France (Observer)
- Laura Piddock, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom (Observer)
- Dan Andersson, Uppsala University, Sweden (Observer)
- Johan Mouton, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Netherlands (Observer)
- Peter Hawkey, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom (Observer)
- Sara Jabbari, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom (Observer)
- Francisco Fernandez-Trillo, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom (Observer)
- Thomas Wichelhaus, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany (Observer)
- Eugen Proschak, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany (Observer)
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 epidemiology.