“AMTIXBIO and Seoul National University Join Forces to Develop Super Bacteria Antibiotics”

super bacteria. It is difficult to treat with conventional antibiotics. This is because it has strong multi-drug resistance (MDR), which does not kill even when several antibiotics are combined.

Worldwide, more than 1 million people die from it each year. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that the number of deaths will exceed 10 million by 2050. Unlike the ‘Corona 19’ virus, which swept like a frenzy for a short period of time, it is also a constant infectious disease that hovers around us 24 hours a day.

In Korea, about 4,000 people a year (2019) die because of super bacteria. As antibiotics are widely used in clinical practice, it has been evaluated as “a country with a serious antibiotic resistance situation.”

The Ministry of Health and Welfare has set ‘development of antibiotics against refractory multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria’ as its main goal this year. To challenge the treatment that has not been solved worldwide. Although it is still in its infancy, it is the beginning of a campaign to eradicate super bacteria.

To this end, four research teams, including Seoul National University and AmtixBio, were selected as national players and an agreement was signed last week. The world has entered into a competitive landscape in the eradication of super bacteria. It is an important stepping stone from the stage of finding antibiotic candidates to preclinical and clinical trials.

In particular, Amtics Bio Co., Ltd. (CEO Jong-Seung Lee) aims to develop an antibiotic for ‘Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii’, which is the most severe among super bacteria.

It is a superbacteria that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have defined as “a top priority pathogen requiring treatment development” (ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE THREATS IN THE UNITED STATES 2019).

Seoul National University School of Medicine Professor Yeom Jin-gi, who will study together, is the protagonist who has already developed a genetic recombination technique suitable for this strain. He was charged with clarifying the target of the new antifungal agent.

Amtics Bio Co., Ltd. is a bio venture that has been focusing on the development of new antifungal drugs. We have developed an antifungal agent for toenail fungus. A fast-acting treatment that has a faster therapeutic effect than existing treatments.

On the 22nd, CEO Lee Jong-seung said, “Development of superbacteria treatment is a common task for people all over the world.”