Article published on FEhealthcare on April 16, 2022
According to the company, the enzyme, XZ.700, eliminated the pathogen while maintaining a healthy microbiome and preventing antimicrobial resistance (AMR). These findings can be a crucial step in tackling AMR.
Micreos Pharmaceuticals’s novel antibacterial enzyme has been proved to be effective in selectively targeting and killing the harmful Staphylococcus aureus bacterial pathogen, as per the company’s study findings which it announced on Saturday.
According to the company, the enzyme, XZ.700, eliminated the pathogen while maintaining a healthy microbiome and preventing antimicrobial resistance (AMR). These findings can be a crucial step in tackling AMR.
The pharma company maintained that XZ.700 is the first of many innovative endolysins in its portfolio and it’s essential as the first molecule the company will market. The findings of the study were published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
A pathogen linked with causing and aggravating a variety of medical conditions, S. aureus, can cause ailments ranging from mild disorders to life-threatening diseases. S. aureus has the ability to hide in the niches of the body, and quickly develop resistance to antibiotics.
This makes it difficult to cure the infections. According to the pharma company, there is no pharmaceutical treatment available that specifically targets S. aureus yet.
Micreos Pharmaceuticals informed that XZ.700 is a novel antibacterial enzyme that effectively kills S. aureus without harming the beneficial organisms.
To design XZ.700, the scientists from Micreos along with ETH Zurich created XZ.700 with combined elements from a bacteriophage endolysin and an S. aureus-specific bacteriocin, and both of them naturally target bacteria. While conducting the study, the team of scientists found that XZ.700 selectively eliminates S. aureus from a simple version of the skin microbiome and is effective against S. aureus on recreated human skin and in a mouse model.
It is noteworthy, that no resistance occurred in S. aureus when it was repeatedly exposed to XZ.700 which is a critical feature amidst the soaring AMR crisis.
“I am proud to see how developments at Micreos that are based on fundamental research conducted in our lab at ETH are now progressing into medical applications to help patients with inflammatory skin conditions,” said Professor Martin Loessner of ETH Zurich, a leading researcher and co-author of the paper.
“XZ.700 forms one of the main building blocks of our endolysin portfolio and is the starting point for many more molecules to come,” said PD Dr. Mathias Schmelcher, chief scientific officer at Micreos Pharmaceuticals, and co-author of the research.
AMR is an aggravating global issue that leads to 750,000 deaths annually. The resistance occurs when pathogens adapt themselves and stop responding to medications. According to health experts, if the issue of AMR is not addressed, the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens could lead to highly dangerous superbugs.
The number of annual global deaths from AMR is estimated to increase to 10 million by 2050 which is more than the number of people who die due to cancer at present.