MELBOURNE, Australia,
Dec. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --
Alterity Therapeutics (ASX: ATH, NASDAQ: ATHE) ("Alterity" or "the
Company") has today announced it has been granted a licence by
UniQuest, the commercialisation company of The University of Queensland (UQ), to novel zinc
ionophore technology to combat antimicrobial resistance
in superbugs.
Under the licence, Alterity has secured the worldwide exclusive
right to patented technology to develop and commercialise therapies
that re-sensitise bacteria to antibiotics. The licensed technology
combines Alterity's PBT2 and other zinc ionophores with commonly
used antibiotics to treat infections caused by multidrug resistant
bacteria. This is an opportunity for Alterity to further leverage
its investment in PBT2.
PBT2, Alterity's most advanced zinc ionophore, breaks the
resistance of many important superbugs to available antibiotics,
and is covered for this use by patents until 2038. Importantly,
PBT2 has previously completed long term preclinical safety studies
and phase 2 clinical trial testing in other indications and has
been shown to have a favourable safety profile in those trials.
A recently published article in the high-impact journal Science
Translational Medicine[1], showed that PBT2 could
reverse antibiotic resistance to critical superbugs and demonstrate
efficacy in an animal model of sepsis.
Professor Mark Walker of The
University of Queensland said: "The
results from our paper demonstrate that by breaking the resistance
of superbugs, PBT2 and other zinc ionophores have the potential to
restore the efficacy of several widely available antibiotics."
The authors also noted that superbugs exposed to a combination
of PBT2 and antibiotics had a very low propensity to develop
further resistance, making the emergence of cross-resistance to the
novel treatment unlikely. Thus, PBT2 may help address the issue of
antimicrobial resistance without becoming part of the problem.
Geoffrey Kempler, Alterity's
Chairman and CEO said: "Even without the effects Covid-19,
antibiotic resistant pathogens kill more than 700,000 people each
year and represent a major threat to global public health".
"The approach developed by our collaborators is novel and
potentially revolutionary. Existing antibiotics are losing the
battle against these infections and science is struggling to keep
up as pathogens continually adapt. Because we can combine PBT2 with
existing antibiotics, many of which are generic, this approach has
strong commercial value to Alterity."
The World Health Organisation has declared antibiotic resistant
bacteria a serious threat to global health that requires novel
strategies to overcome the problem. PBT2 can break the resistance
of the most important resistant pathogens designated by the
WHO.[1],[2]
"The critical and urgent importance of this work is amplified in
the current context of Covid-19, because secondary bacterial
infections associated with viral pandemics are an important cause
of mortality[3]. The need for effective antimicrobial
regimens is very high," added Mr Kempler.
UniQuest CEO Dr Dean Moss said
the technology had the potential to be a catalyst for change in
what was a significant and growing public health problem. "This
partnership has significant potential to help combat a growing and
complex global problem," he said.
In exchange for the grant of exclusive worldwide rights, once
Alterity generates commercialization revenue, UniQuest is entitled
to receive certain payments including milestone and royalty
payments commensurate with academic licenses.
Alterity intends to direct new resources to the project with no
impact on its lead commercialisation program for ATH434, which is
advancing to Phase 2 in Multiple System Atrophy, a Parkinsonian
disorder with no approved therapy.
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1.
De Oliveira D, Bohlmann L, Conroy T, et al. Repurposing a
neurodegenerative disease drug to treat Gram-negative antibiotic-
resistant bacterial sepsis. Science Translational Medicine
18 Nov 2020: Vol. 12, Issue 570, eabb3791. DOI:
10.1126/scitranslmed.abb3791
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2.
Bohlmann L, De Oliveira D, El-Deeb I,
et al. 2018. Chemical synergy between ionophore PBT2 and zinc reverses antibiotic
resistance. mBio
9:e02391-18. https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02391-18.
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3.
Morens, D, Taubenberger, J, and Fauci, A. Predominant Role of
Bacterial Pneumonia as a Cause of Death in Pandemic
Influenza: Implications for Pandemic Influenza Preparedness. J
Infect Dis. 2008 October 1; 198(7): 962–970.
doi:10.1086/591708.
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Authorization & Additional information
This announcement was authorized by Geoffrey Kempler, Chairman and CEO of Alterity
Therapeutics Limited.
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SOURCE Alterity Therapeutics Limited