In a critical step towards addressing an urgent unmet medical need due to infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria - also known as ‘superbugs’ - a new antibiotic (QPX9003) discovered by Monash University researchers has entered Phase 1 clinical trials in the United States.
The trials have been initiated by the US-based biopharmaceutical company Qpex Biopharma Inc. (Qpex) who have worked in collaboration with Monash to drive clinical development of the drug.
QPX9003, which was discovered at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) and the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI), is an intravenously-administered synthetic next-generation polymyxin for treating Gram-negative ‘superbug’ infections. No new polymyxins have been approved since polymyxin B and colistin became available in the late 1950s.
Deemed a global health crisis, Gram-negative bacteria can cause serious infections, including pneumonia, bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections, peritonitis and meningitis. The World Health Organization has highlighted that new antibiotics are urgently needed to treat bacterial ‘superbugs’, which have the potential to kill 10 million people per year by 2050 – more than any other type of disease.