Power Up

Donna Shryer
Posted by Donna Shryer

New antibiotic shows early superpowers against superbugs 

If you’re not sure what QPX9003 is, let’s start by saying it’s not the newest Star Wars astromech droid.

QPX9003 is a next-generation, IV-administered, synthetic antibiotic currently being investigated to attack drug-resistant gram-negative pathogens—those potentially deadly bacteria that create superbugs, including certain cases of meningitis.1 

Hight Priority

In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its first list of antibiotic-resistant “priority pathogens,” which is a catalogue of 12 families of bacteria that WHO feels pose the greatest threat to human health. The list, intended to help drive research and development (R&D) of new antibiotics, highlights the threat of gram-negative bacteria that are resistant to multiple antibiotics. These bacteria have built-in abilities to find new ways to resist treatment and can pass along genetic material that allows other bacteria to become drug resistant as well.2 

With the development of new therapies to treat drug-resistant gram-negative pathogens a critical WHO priority, QPX9003 initial trial is closely watched.

One Step at a Time 

At this point, QPX9003 is just entering Phase 1 clinical trials, initiated by the US-based Qpex Biopharma Inc. (Qpex). The biopharmaceutical company has been working for several years in collaboration with Australia’s Monash University to drive clinical development of the drug.

QPX9003 was first discovered at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) and the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI).

The Phase 1 trial will evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of QPX9003 therapy when administered intravenously in healthy adults.

The Monash research team is led by Professor Jian Li, Associate Professor Tony Velkov, Professor Roger Nation, Dr Kade Roberts and Professor Philip Thompson.

“This is a remarkable achievement for our team, to take a drug from concept into the clinic. QPX9003 shows significantly improved safety and efficacy over the currently used polymyxin antibiotics in pre-clinical studies, in particular for lung infections,” said Professor Li who heads up the Monash antibiotic drug discovery program.

“This has been an amazing journey involving two decades of hard work across pharmacology, medicinal chemistry and drug discovery. We’re very thankful for the efforts of our team here at Monash, the support of Monash Innovation, our productive collaboration with Qpex and the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for funding our polymyxin drug development program.”

If QPX9003 continues to prove safe and is eventually cleared, it will be the first new polymyxin to be approved since polymyxin B and colistin became available in the late 1950s.

 

  1. Monash University. New antibiotic to combat deadly bacterial ‘superbugs’ enters clinical trials Available from https://www.monash.edu/news/articles/new-antibiotic-to-combat-deadly-bacterial-superbugs-enters-clinical-trials. Accessed June 28, 2021 

  2. World Health Organization. WHO publishes list of bacteria for which new antibiotics are urgently needed. February 17, 2017. Available from https://www.who.int/news/item/27-02-2017-who-publishes-list-of-bacteria-for-which-new-antibiotics-are-urgently-needed. Accessed June 28, 2021