Speakers:
- Freda Jen, Research Leader, Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, Griffith University (Australia)
- Anthony Coates, Founder, Director & Chief Scientific Officer Helperby Therapeutics Group Ltd and Professor of Medical Microbiology, City St Georges, University of London (UK)
- François Franceschi, Associate Director SBI Portforlio, GARDP (Switzerland)
Moderator:
- Jennifer Smart, Senior Microbiology Consultant, GARDP (Switzerland)
This webinar explored the potential, challenges, and recent advances in repurposing medicines originally developed for other uses as effective antibiotics.
Presentation 1: Repurposing a drug candidate originally developed for Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases to treat resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections (Freda Jen)
- The emergence of antimicrobial resistance, with a focus on multidrug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae
- A drug candidate originally developed for Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases shows potential in being used to treat resistant Ng infections
- This repurposed drug is being advanced alongside the development of novel antibiotic approaches
Presentation 2: An antiviral used in the management and treatment of HIV that is being repurposed as an antibacterial (Anthony Coates)
- The antiviral zidovudine synergises with several anti-bacterials
- These combinations are active against WHO Critical Priority bacterial pathogens, including carbapenem resistant Enterobacterales and third-generation cephalosporin resistant Enterobacterales
- These combinations are being developed for patients with highly resistant bacterial infections and have reached the clinical trials stage
Presentation 3: A one health approach to AMR: GARDP’s exploration of a veterinary antibiotic’s therapeutic potential in humans (François Franceschi)
- Apramycin: an old veterinary antibiotic with the potential to cover current human MDR pathogens.
- What makes apramycin different from current aminoglycosides used in the clinic?
- Potential paths for clinical development of apramycin
This live webinar including an interactive Q&A session was broadcast on 22 July 2025.
If you have questions or comments, please let us know: revive@gardp.org.