Source: Eric Erbe, Christopher Pooley [Public domain]

Despite challenging markets new players are entering the field to advance drug development in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

Holger Zimmermann, CEO of AiCuris, is trying to grow the antibacterial pipeline at his company, and is looking for attractive in-licensing opportunities. © AiCuris

SMEs active in antibiotic development are trying to adapt to the uncertain AMR business. Meanwhile, the European IMI AMR accelerator kicked off. 

© Daniela Beckmann

Antibiotic developers struggle with uncertain market conditions, weak reimbursement schemes and low turnover once a drug is approved. Experts are trying to figure out the best way to balance push and pull incentives. 

Picture: Henrik Larsson/stock.adobe.com

Although it has only been shown to provide partial protection,  the first-ever malaria vaccine is in testing in Africa – and there are many more hopefuls in the pipeline. Will we soon eradicate one of the most deadly pathogens in human history?

Malaria medicines and candidate drugs and its targets in Plasmodium. Picture: SGS

Tackling the malaria pathogen P. falciparum has been complex, due to rapid development of resistance. A new compound targets liver stages of the parasite and, thus, provides a new mode of action to reduce the population of the parasite.

Z-stack confocal microscopy image of a pancreatic organoid used in a phenotypic screen obtained after staining nuclei with HOECHST dye. 
Hou et al. developed an HTS-compatible method that enables the consistent production of organoids in standard flat-bottom 384- and 1536-well plates by combining the use of a cell-repellent surface with a bioprinting technology incorporating magnetic force. Picture: Shurong Hou, SLAS Discovery, doi: 10.1177/2472555218766842

It’s no easy task to develop medications that are effective and safe to use. The pharmaceutical industry loses billions every year due to safety-related attrition during the drug discovery process. For both patients and companies, improving productivity in the area would bring significant benefits. Now novel biomarkers designed to better detect and manage drug-induced organ injury – both preclinically and clinically – could make the process faster, safer and cheaper. tg

Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development in Brussels. Picture: Hanna Penzer [CC BY-SA 4.0]

Outgoing EU Commissioner for Agriculture Paul Hogan said in April, that the European Commission will exclude member states from the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that do not include the promotion of the bioeconomy in agriculture.

Picture: European Parliament

The European Council, the European Parliament, and the outgoing European Commission have agreed upon the priorities and structure of Horizon Europe (2021 to 2027), the next seven-year research and innovation programme of the European Union. This autumn, they will decide on the Parliament’s proposal to increase its budget from €100bn to €120bn.

After the birth of the first genome-edited babies in China, regulators, researchers, and bioethics experts seek ways to ban clinical use of germline editing, in order to protect the innovative field from misuse for human enhancement and side effect-prone application forgene correction and human enhancement.

Picture: sumroeng chinnapan/shutterstock

There is a growing demand for more patient-centric drug delivery and improved health-care cost management via self-administration and smart devices. The global drug device combination market is projected to reach nearly US$140m by 2025. It’s where the two different worlds of pharmaceutical (GMP) and standardised medical devices collide.Each needs to learn from the other in order to facilitate the regulation process in Europe.