Developing Novel Antibiotics Consultancy

Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer (England) said in 2013 that "Antimicrobial resistance poses a catastrophic threat. If we don’t act now, any one of us could go into hospital in 20 years for minor surgery and die because of an ordinary infection that can’t be treated by antibiotics." About 25,000 patients a year die in the European Union from an infection caused by a bacterium that is resistant to more than one antibiotic – and on current trends this is predicted to grow to 390,000 a year by 2050. Further information on the scale of the problem of antimicrobial resistance can be found here.

The Developing Novel Antibiotics Consultancy was started in November 2015 by Professor Richard James to provide advice to antibiotic developers and potential investors concerning alternatives to traditional antibiotic discovery, in particular by harnessing the potential of bacteriocins, protein antibiotics produced by bacteria that kill closely related species. There is developing evidence that bacteriocins, and molecules such as lysins encoded by bacteriophages, could make a significant contribution to overcoming the problem of antimicrobial resistance. By making use of a relationship with a long established consultancy business I can also offer expertise in traditional small molecule antibiotics.