July 2022

NEWSLETTER OF THE FRENCH NATIONAL
ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE PORTAL

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

• International Symposium on Antibiotic Resistance on June 7, 2022 in Paris : the international scientific community calls to action
  “If nothing is done, antibiotic resistance will cause more deaths than cancer or cardiovascular diseases in 2050” stated Stewart Cole, CEO of the Institut Pasteur, at the opening of the international symposium “Research and innovation to reduce the burden of antibiotic resistance” jointly organised by Inserm and Institut Pasteur. This event was held on June 7, 2022, at PariSanté Campus in Paris, France, in the framework of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union (PFUE 2022) under the high patronage of the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
• Industry and research join forces to tackle $283 billion antimicrobial resistance threat to Australia
  A new partnership to improve the resilience and profitability of Australia’s food and agribusiness industries has been kickstarted with a $34.5 million Federal Government grant announced on May 06, 2022.
  
  The Cooperative Research Centre for Solving Antimicrobial Resistance in Agribusiness, Food, and Environments (CRC SAAFE), involving 70 partners contributing an additional $115 million cash and in-kind support, is led by UniSA environmental scientist Professor Erica Donner. Over the next decade the $149 million project will tackle resistance to essential antibiotics, antifungals and antivirals that, if not addressed, could wipe up to $283 billion from the Australian economy by 2050.
• France 2030 University Hospital Institutes IHU 3 Call for proposals
  The French government decided to allocate €1 billion through the France 2030 plan to strengthen our capacity for world-leading biomedical research. Within this action and its €300M, this call for proposals aims to create a maximum of six new University Hospital Institutes (IHU), future centres of excellence in research, healthcare, prevention, teaching and technology transfer in the area of health. The University Hospital Institutes bring together a critical mass of researchers, teachers, researchers and health personnel within an integrated structure that combines a university, a healthcare facility, and one or more research organisations.
• Students Against Superbugs Africa, a student-driven initiative
  Students Against Superbugs (SAS) Africa is a student-driven initiative under the guidance of qualified health professionals which seeks to mitigate the threat of Antimicrobial Resistance in African communities using a One Health Approach, with a keen focus on rural areas and urban informal settlements. SAS Africa empowers young people throughout Africa to be lead advocates in the fight against AMR.
• Innovative research by Prof. Oswald's team on the production of host-deleterious nanoparticles by sepsis bacteria
  The Ministry of Solidarity and Health, in collaboration with learned societies and the France Sepsis Association, is carrying out several projects aimed at improving the surveillance of cases of sepsis in France, public awareness of sepsis, training of health professionals, prevention, screening and treatment of sepsis. The "Pathogenesis and commensalism of enterobacteria" team of the Digestive Health Research Institute led by Prof. Oswald is conducting research in this area. Their results show that in the fight against sepsis, it is not only necessary to kill the bacteria involved, but also to reduce their capacity to produce vesicles, which are a few tens of nanometres large.
• POOR AIR, Once upon a time there were infections and shadow fighters (LE MAUVAIS AIR, Il était une fois les infections et les combattants de l’ombre), a book by Jean-Marc CAVAILLON
  In this book, Jean-Marc Cavaillon retraces the history of humanity confronted with pandemics, and the contribution of a few famous scientists and many others unjustly forgotten who identified the miasmas, the animalcules, the viruses, the germs responsible for so many illnesses. He recounts their efforts to fight infections, propose hygiene, offer antiseptic or antibiotic treatments, and prevent infectious diseases with vaccines. He also draws parallels between historical events and events associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has become the common thread of this story: the incestuous links between certain scientists and the scientific press, the quarrels between doctrines, between contagionists and anticontagionists, between "confortists" and alarmists...

BIOTECH CORNER

• Micreos Pharma announces success of its antibacterial enzyme that “selectively eliminates” pathogens
  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. 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.
• Spexis receives milestone payment of nearly $2 million
  Spexis, a company formed from the December merger of Polyphor and Enbiotix, has reached a milestone in the development of a new class of antibiotics, receiving $1.9 million. The first settlement of a conditional $8.84 million grant from the US Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (Carb-X) programme will be used to optimise research leads, according to a statement released Thursday.
  
  The "thanatin derivatives" project is part of Spexis' range of experimental antibiotics targeting outer membrane proteins (Ompta) and is aimed at combating enterobacteria, a family of bacteria including particularly resistant Gram-negative pathogens.
• bioMérieux strengthens its commitment to fight antimicrobial resistance with the acquisition of Specific Diagnostics
  bioMérieux, a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics, announces that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Specific Diagnostics, a privately held U.S. based company that has developed a rapid antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) system that delivers phenotypic AST directly from positive blood cultures. bioMérieux has held a minority stake in Specific Diagnostics since 2019. The two companies had signed a co-distribution agreement covering the European market in 2021.

UPCOMING EVENTS AND CONFERENCES,
SECOND SEMESTER 2022

• EMBO Workshop, Bacterial networks (BacNet21), 04-09 September 2022, Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain
• Microbes 2022, 17^th national congress of the SFM, 3-5 October 2022, Montpellier Corum
• 9^th ASM Conference on Biofilms, Nov. 13-Nov. 17, 2022, Charlotte, United States

• Do you wish to submit a news item, a job offer or a scientific publication, or join our online directory of the scientists and key players in the fight against antimicrobial resistance in France? Write to us at: ppr-antibioresistance.i3m@inserm.fr

Director of publication: Gilles BLOCH, CEO of Inserm
Assistant Publishing Director: Évelyne JOUVIN-MARCHE
Editorial board: Émilie NOGUEZ
Communication manager: Myriem BELKACEM
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