| 2 min read
Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
TORONTO—In mid-February, Affinium Pharmaceuticals announced initial success of its Galapagos compound screening program in the identification of the first potential drug targeted against a novel bacterial pathway in almost 40 years. The program offers the potential to develop new classes of antibiotics to fight the drug-resistant superbugs that plague the world's healthcare systems.
 
Using their structure-guided drug discovery platform, re-searchers at Affinium have developed a new class of drugs that inhibit critical enzymes involved in essential bacterial fatty acid biosynthesis. As company Chairman and CEO Dr. John D. Mendlein explains, this approach offers Affinium a strategic advantage for antibacterial intervention as no other companies have targeted this pathway.
 
"Our antibiotics will be available in both oral and intravenous formulations, with improved safety profiles and excellent activity against staphylococcal superbug infections," says Dr. Mendlein. "Compounds in the program are efficacious against a number of other disease-causing agents, and we are working on follow-on products in addition to our lead candidate.
 
"For some, it will be considered risky. We hope that others in the medical community will welcome the multiple opportunities for breakthrough medicines."
 
Dr. Menlein expects the company will likely avoid working with a big pharma partner to further develop these drugs and bring them to market, preferring to develop the drugs on their own in collaboration with a clinical research organization and perhaps contract manufacturing organizations.
 
"We intentionally decided not to partner Galapagos," he explains. "Our business strategy is to apply structure-guided drug discovery to our own compounds, to those of our existing pharmaceutical
partners (e.g., Pfizer), and to compounds that we license in."
 
Affinium's structure-based approach benefits from two of their three founders being associated with the Structural Genomics Consortium, a not-for-profit corporation with locations in Toronto and the United Kingdom.
 
"There is no question that Toronto has a medical biotechnology community that is particularly rich in early-stage expertise, particularly structural biology," he adds. "We need to build businesses big enough to discover, develop, and market drugs in a competitive global environment, and that means developing a mindset that accepts fewer, bigger, riskier investments over periods of time consistent with the drug development process. Toronto provides huge opportunities for pioneering companies like Affinium."
 
The results of the Affinium program could have significant impact on healthcare as the last few years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of hospitals reporting bacterial infections that appear to be resistant to most antibiotics. The most prominent of these so-called superbugs is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), but many hospitals are even finding bacteria resistant to the traditional drug-of-last-defense, vancomycin.
 
"Superbugs cause tremendous healthcare problems that include increased morbidity, hospital stays, and treatment failures," Dr. Mendlein says. "These hard-to-treat infections cost the healthcare system many millions of dollars in North America alone, and are now moving into community care systems worldwide."
 
According to a recent study published in The Lancet, MRSA alone accounts for 5000 deaths annually, and hospital-acquired or nosocomial infections cost Britain's National Health Service £1 billion each year. Thus, the need for a new understanding of how to control these infections is long overdue.
 
"The market for drugs to treat nosocomial infections is a worldwide market, and it is growing," Dr. Mendlein adds. "The world needs new drugs for these infections."

About the Author

Related Topics

Published In

Loading Next Article...
Loading Next Article...
Subscribe to Newsletter

Subscribe to our eNewsletters

Stay connected with all of the latest from Drug Discovery News.

Subscribe

Sponsored

Clear sample tubes are shown in a clear tote with red lids in a sample prep robot with a blue and silver industrial lab background.

The crucial role of sample preparation in biotherapy manufacturing

Discover how better sample preparation can unlock improved assay accuracy and analytical results.
A black mosquito is shown on pink human skin against a blurred green backdrop.

Discovering deeper insights into malaria research

Malaria continues to drive urgent research worldwide, with new therapies and tools emerging to combat the parasite’s complex lifecycle and global burden.
Three burgundy round and linear conformations of oligonucleotides are shown against a black background.

Accelerating RNA therapeutic testing with liver microphysiological platforms

Researchers can now study oligonucleotide delivery and efficacy in a system that models a real human liver.
Drug Discovery News March 2025 Issue
Latest IssueVolume 21 • Issue 1 • March 2025

March 2025

March 2025 Issue

Explore this issue