Microbiotix Co. Ltd. has obtained IND approval from the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) for MP-101, a bacteriophage therapy for patients with acute pneumonia. A phase I study in adult patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced pneumonia is expected to enroll its first patient within the year.

Hamlet Biopharma AB has announced the presentation of new preclinical-stage molecules that have originated from its long-term collaboration with Lund University and Linnane Pharma AB with the aim of treating bacterial infections by targeting the disease response of the host rather than the pathogen itself.

SVF Vaccines AB, a portfolio company of Karolinska Development AB, has presented positive results from a preclinical study of its immunotherapy SVF-001 targeting chronic hepatitis B (HBV) and D viruses (HDV).

The multidrug resistance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) makes it a global threat to public health, and the current first-line treatment for MRSA, the glycopeptide vancomycin, can have toxic effects on the kidney and ear.

In vaccine development, one might think that targeting multiple epitopes increases the likelihood of improving outcomes. However, when several immunogens are administered together, the immune system does not always generate antibodies against all of them. Two parallel studies have overcome this challenge by using multiple simultaneous immunogens against HIV, effectively triggering various types of broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) precursors in two different preclinical animal models.

As part of global efforts to develop next-generation antibiotics to overcome the growing problem of bacterial resistance to existing drugs, researchers at the Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences prepared various derivatives of the dimethylcysteamine form of pleuromutilin, a naturally occurring diterpenoid.