Agreement formed to target ‘superbug’ problem

The AMR Centre and Swedish company Medivir have signed an exclusive licensing agreement aimed at tackling NDM-1 and other metallo-β-lactamases, which make bacteria resistant to widely-used antibiotics.

Through this agreement, the AMR Centre will have exclusive worldwide rights to Medivir’s research stage metallo-β-lactamase inhibitor (MBLI) programme and will progress the development of compounds derived from this programme. The main aim of this work will be to create a treatment that can be used in conjunction with existing antibiotics to block the resistance mechanism that the NDM-1 bacteria have developed.

Under the terms of the agreement, the AMR Centre will be responsible for the future development of the MBLI programme and will share with Medivir a proportion of commercialisation revenue received from any future out-licensing, sale or other commercialisation of licensed know-how or compounds. No further financial details were released.

“Medivir has done a lot of very good science and we are delighted to be able to take forward the MBLI program aiming to address important emerging resistance mechanisms and targeting drug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens on the WHO’s critical priority list,” said the AMR Centre’s executive director, Dr Peter Jackson. “There is an absolute need for international collaboration in science around the antibiotic resistance issue. Avoiding duplication of effort is one of the keys as it is still that case that there are far too few scientists, in the grand scheme of public health, working on what is acknowledged as a potentially devastating global problem. The role of the AMR Centre is to help support, nurture and leverage expertise in different locations — and in this case we think we can help progress important science.”

Christine Lind, CEO of Medivir, added: “As Medivir focuses its efforts on developing drugs for cancer, we are pleased that AMRC will continue the development of this important program bringing new antibacterial treatments to patients.”

“The AMR Centre is rapidly establishing itself as a key collaborator and researcher. This is the second international deal and we expect to see more,” exclaimed Dr Chris Doherty, managing director of the AMR Centre, Alderley Park campus. “We are obviously delighted that the research will take place within our campus at Alderley Park — ARM Centre is a flagship presence in terms of antimicrobial research, and we have other businesses here working on the problem.”