The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) and Japanese firm Sumitomo Pharma Co. have signed an agreement for GARDP to access and screen a set of compounds from Sumitomo Pharma’s compound library.

The set of compounds will be tested by the Institut Pasteur Korea in an optimised high throughput screen with the aim of discovering novel compounds with antibacterial activity against drug-resistant bacteria. This agreement supports GARDP’s efforts to tackle serious bacterial infections by developing antibiotics while endeavouring to ensure their sustainable access.

The compounds to be provided by Sumitomo Pharma have never been screened for antibacterial activity. They will be tested against bacteria identified as a critical priority for research and development of new antibiotics in WHO’s global priority pathogens list. Through this screening, GARDP seeks to identify novel compounds active against novel bacterial targets that could form the basis of new drugs.

Professor Laura JV Piddock, Scientific Director, GARDP said, “In only two years, our screening strategy has been validated and successfully screened over 100,000 compounds and natural product extracts. We are now well placed to identify new antibiotics.”