The three-year research project will be funded through a £4m (€5.9m) award from UK charity The Wellcome Trust. It will focus on developing a new class of antibiotic to treat certain infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria, including those that lead to pneumonia.
Most big pharma firms have been cutting back antibacterial research because the drugs - especially new ones - are prescribed as seldom as possible to prevent bacteria building up resistance, thus limiting their market potential.
The companies - big and small - that are still conducting research in antibacterials, are mostly concentrating on Gram-positive bacteria however. This has left a "huge unmet medical need" in Gram-negative research, according to David Pompliano, head of biology at GSK's Microbial, musculoskeletal and proliferative Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery (CEDD).
"In 10 to 15 years most of the current antibacterial drugs will be useless [due to resistance]," Pompliano told DrugResearcher.com. Therefore, GSK is "taking a long-term approach because we believe the commercial market will open up again," he continued.
"We are one of the few companies still with an active programme in antibacterials," said Pompliano. "The main reason for this is that this particular indication has had less enthusiasm from industry in general [because of the small market] - but this is changing."
Historically, GSK has also been researching infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria. However, Pompliano explained that of the three novel classes of antibiotic GSK has developed for Gram-positive infections, one of these has shown some positive results against Gram-negative bacteria as well.
GSK plans to further investigate the structure-activity relationship of these preclinical, dual-acting compounds. The results can then be used modify the structure of the compounds to improve their efficacy against the more narrow class of Gram-negative pathogens. Pompliano revealed that the team will look into problem organisms such as Escherichia coli, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella and Acinetobacter.
The goal is to get a compound into Phase I clinical trials with GSK promising to match the Wellcome Trust's contribution in staff, equipment and 'other programme costs'. If a product is ever commercialised from the programme, the charity will receive an undisclosed 'financial consideration'.
Pompliano revealed that, as is typical of this sort of programme, some of the chemistry will be outsourced. However, GSK will also bring in some new staff to conduct the research.
The £4m is part of the Wellcome Trust's £91m Seeding Drug Discovery Initiative, the launch of which was reported in DrugResearcher.com in January .
Asked why funding was going to a big pharma, the Wellcome Trust's head of technology transfer, Dr Ted Bianco, said: "The motives for funding any drug discovery project is to do with unmet medical need," and that the initiative was designed to ensure there is enough "firepower and initiative in a research programme. A programme with inadequate momentum is a recipe for disaster."
He added that this need lies right through the drug discovery system, whether the scientists are in an academic group, a small company and even big pharma.
He continued: "If the project succeeds, The Wellcome Trust doesn't mind private benefit as long as it is incidental to public benefit."
Last week, the UK Health Projection agency announced that Gram-positive infections caused by Clostridium difficile increased 8 per cent in 2006 to 55,681. Although this is down on the 17 per cent increase between 2004 and 2005, the increase was still described as "worrying" by Bianco. However, levels of another Gram-positive infection, specifically methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), decreased 7 per cent in the last quarter of 2006 (annual figures are not available until July).
"Management has a large role to play [in controlling these infections] but we mustn't lose sight of the fact that we still need efficacious compounds to treat those infections that do get through and are resistant to the current crop of drugs. It's important to not become complacent," said Bianco.
"The public and private sectors must find creative ways to address antibiotic development, or face the spectre of being confronted with untreatable infections."
