Novel compound from marine organism could combat superbugs

Aquapharm, a Scottish biotechnology company has announced the discovery of a new antibiotic compound, which it believes could combat a number of multi-drug resistant bacteria.

Aquapharm, based at the European Centre for Marine Biotechnology near Oban, and Heriot-Watt University Research Park, Edinburgh, has developed the compound from research into marine organisms.

The firm says it could be effective against Multi-Drug Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MDRSA) and Multi-Drug resistant Streptococcus Pneumoniae (MDRSP), Clostridium Difficile and Enteroccocus Faecalis, which are common causes of death in hospital patients.

Scientists discovered the 'AQP-182' compound after screening a fraction of its collection of more than 10,000 marine micro-organisms for substances with anti-infective and anti-inflammatory properties.

Five new chemical entities, including AQP-182, are now in preclinical development.

Tim Morley, Aquapharm’s chief scientific officer, said: ‘From an initial screening of a small portion of our natural product library we have identified 16 novel compounds belonging to totally novel and diverse chemical classes.

‘The most advanced compound AQP-182 has a promising pharmacological and pharmacokinetic profile which is extremely relevant for the treatment of hard to treat resistant bacterial infections.’

A Phase I clinical trial is expected to begin in the second half of 2013.

Professor Simon Best, chief executive of Aquapharm, added that the data demonstrated the potential of marine natural products as a rich source of pharmaceutical chemistry.

‘Not only have natural products been the source of, or the inspiration for, more than 75% of the new small-molecule chemical entities introduced as pharmaceuticals over the past 50 years – they [also] remain a fundamental source of new chemical diversity and an integral component of modern science's pharmaceutical armoury.’