Despite the advent of the antibiotic era, infectious diseases retain their pre-eminent position as major worldwide causes of morbidity and mortality. This problem has been worsen by the emergence of multi-antibiotic resistant bacteria and the failure of Pharmaceutical company drug discovery programmes to design antibiotics with truly novel modes of action. NABATIVI has put together a unique consortium made of six academic institutions and three highly recognized SMEs with complementary expertise in the fields of molecular pathogenicity and broad expertise in drug discovery, optimization, preclinical development. The consortium has been specifically designed to generate new strategies leading to the identification and validation of novel targets for antimicrobials using as model organisms the gram-negatives Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cenocepacia as they are key agents of morbidity and mortality worldwide in a wide range of diseases. The versatility of these model bacteria will enable the results obtained to be extrapolated to other bacterial pathogens. The extensive involvement of SMEs in this consortium will enable the selection of lead compounds against the identified targets from their large libraries of natural and synthetic chemicals which after validation will establish the basis for the development of new classes of antibacterial drugs. This will result in a reduction in the incidence and improvement of the treatment of infections caused by these organisms with a direct impact on the quality of life and the life expectancy of the affected risk patient populations.
Despite the advent of the antibiotic era, infectious diseases retain their pre-eminent position as major worldwide causes of morbidity and mortality. This problem has been worsen by the emergence of multi-antibiotic resistant bacteria and the failure of Pharmaceutical company drug discovery programmes to design antibiotics with truly novel modes of action. NABATIVI has put together a unique consortium made of six academic institutions and three highly recognized SMEs with complementary expertise in the fields of molecular pathogenicity and broad expertise in drug discovery, optimization, preclinical development. The consortium has been specifically designed to generate new strategies leading to the identification and validation of novel targets for antimicrobials using as model organisms the gram-negatives Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cenocepacia as they are key agents of morbidity and mortality worldwide in a wide range of diseases. The versatility of these model bacteria will enable the results obtained to be extrapolated to other bacterial pathogens. The extensive involvement of SMEs in this consortium will enable the selection of lead compounds against the identified targets from their large libraries of natural and synthetic chemicals which after validation will establish the basis for the development of new classes of antibacterial drugs. This will result in a reduction in the incidence and improvement of the treatment of infections caused by these organisms with a direct impact on the quality of life and the life expectancy of the affected risk patient populations.