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Test tubes at Biontech: With mRNA against antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Photo: Dado Ruvic / REUTERS
The Mainz-based biotech company Biontech wants to invest more in research into new antibiotics.
As Biontech announced at an investor event on Wednesday, the planning is still at an early stage.
Clinical tests are scheduled to begin in 2023.
Biontech is primarily focusing on the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria with endolysins, an enzyme.
The company's mRNA technology is also to be used here.
"We believe that this approach could be very powerful in combination with mRNA technology," CEO Ugur Sahin said, according to the Reuters news agency.
His first project is an endolysin against bacterial vaginal infections.
In October 2021, Biontech acquired the Austrian biotech company PhagoMed, which specializes in the development of a new class of antibiotics.
Resistance to antibiotics is increasing at a dangerous rate.
Conventional antibiotics are increasingly reaching their limits because multi-resistant germs are spreading worldwide.
In the United States and the European Union, it is estimated that almost 70,000 people die each year from antibiotic-resistant infections.
This field of research has been neglected by the pharmaceutical industry for years, and almost all large corporations have withdrawn from it due to lack of profitability.
The “pan-coronavirus vaccinations” are to come
Biontech also wants to continue working with US partner Pfizer on vaccines and treatments against corona viruses.
A vaccine adapted to the omicron variant should be available in autumn.
In the second half of the year, the Mainz-based company wants to start testing vaccinations that protect against a large number of corona viruses.
The so-called “pan-coronavirus vaccinations” are intended to offer “permanent protection against different variants”.
T-cell-enhancing vaccinations should also protect against severe courses.
So far, all studies indicate that the current vaccine is significantly less effective against the currently particularly dominant variant after only two vaccinations.
Advisors to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday recommended changes for the fall that can cover the currently circulating variants of the virus.
With a large majority, the Advisory Committee of the Authority came out in favor of the new generation of booster vaccinations protecting against the omicron variant.
The FDA now wants to decide on the exact composition by the beginning of July.
mgo/jlk/Reuters
