News

Declining private investment and lack of innovation in the development of new antibiotics are undermining efforts to combat drug-resistant infections, says the World Health Organization (WHO).

In early October, the World Bank Group released a report on antimicrobial resistance. By looking at several country-based case studies, along with the growing literature on AMR, this report outlines factors both helping and burdening interventions towards controlling AMR, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Fetroja (cefiderocol), an antibacterial drug for treatment of patients 18 years of age or older with complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI), including kidney infections caused by susceptible Gram-negative microorganisms, who have limited or no alternative treatment options.

For more than a year now, a publically accessible database is available enabling scientists to share data and insights, learn from past research, and generate new insights into how molecules interact with bacteria. Several pharmaceutical companies (such as Novartis and Achaogen) have uploaded research data from their discontinued candidate antibiotics to the database.

The Dutch trade and innovation mission to India coincides with the state visit of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima. The visit symbolizes the excellent longstanding ties between the two countries. A delegation of business delegation and knowledge institutions with focus on Agri & Food, Water & Waste and Health will join the Minister Sigrid Kaag of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Minister Bruins of Medical Care and Sports and State Secretary Mona Keijzer for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, to look for cross-border collaborations between businesses, government and knowledge institutions.

The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), a not for profit organisation developing new treatments for drug resistant infections, and Entasis Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ETTX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel antibacterial products, today jointly announced the initiation of a global phase 3 pivotal trial of zoliflodacin. Zoliflodacin is a novel, first-in-class oral antibiotic being developed for the treatment of uncomplicated gonorrhoea. Following positive phase 2 results previously published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), Entasis and GARDP have partnered to complete late stage development, with GARDP fully-funding and sponsoring the global phase 3 trial.