Antibiotics
1. Mission
The discovery of antibiotics during the course of the 20th century was a milestone in the history of medicine. Today, a remarkable number of antibiotics still stem from the golden era of antibiotics development, which lasted roughly from 1945-1970. Unfortunately, antibiotics became victims of their own success; due to many treatment options and low prices, companies ceased to develop novel antibiotics, because other medical fields offered more attractive markets. In parallel, the existing antibiotics were misused as food additives in the animal industry and were prescribed to humans without being necessary. As a consequence, antimicrobial resistance could spread worldwide, resulting in multiresistant pathogens which can no longer be treated with the current arsenal of antibiotics. In particular Gram-negative pathogens such as Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa have emerged as dangerous multiresistant strains in western hospitals including Switzerland.
In 2015, biotechnet and the NTN SwissBiotech founded a novel platform dedicated to antibiotics. The mission of the Antibiotics platform is to bundle the existing expertise of antibiotic research in Switzerland with a focus on the discovery and development of novel antibiotics to treat multidrug resistant bacteria. Networking activities facilitated through the Antibiotics platform will lead to novel research co-operations between industry and academia. Together, we strive to innovate antibiotic development.
2. Platform members
The platform is lead by Prof. Dr. Markus Seeger and has currently the following members
Industry
Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd., Dr. Jürg Dreier
BioVersys, Dr. Michel Pieren
Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Dr. Daniel Ritz
Juvabis, Dr. Sven Hobbie, Dr. Marc Creus
LASCCO, Dr. Samareh Lajaunias
leadXpro, Prof. Michael Hennig
LimmaTech Biologics AG, Dr. Michael Kowarik
Polyphor, Dr. Daniel Obrecht
Resistell, Dr. Danuta Cichocka
rqmicro, Dr. Hans-Anton Keserue
F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Dr. Christoph Bieniossek
SpheroBiotics, Dr. Irene Wüthrich and Dr. Steven Schmitt
Academia
EPF Lausanne, Institute of Physics, Prof. Dr. Giovanni Dietler
ETH Zurich, Institute of Microbiology, Prof. Dr. Jörn Piel
ETH Zurich, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Altmann
ETH Zurich, Department of Health Sciences and Technology , Dr. Mathias Schmelcher
FHNW School of Life Sciences, Institute for Chemistry and Bioanalytics, Prof. Dr. Daniel Gygax, Prof. Dr. Eric Kübler
HES-SO Valais-Wallis, Institute of Life Technologies, Prof. Dr. Origène Nyanguile
University of Basel, Biozentrum, Prof. Dr. Christoh Dehio, Prof. Dr. Urs Jenal, Prof. Dr. Dirk Bumann, Prof. Dr. Sebastian Hiller, Prof. Dr. Médéric Diard
University of Berne, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Prof. Dr. Jean-Louis Reymond, PD Dr. Tamis Darbre
University of Berne, Institute for Veterinary Bacteriology, Prof. Dr. Vincent Perreten
University of Zurich, Department of Chemistry, Prof. Dr. Karl Gademann
University of Zurich, Institute of Medical Microbiology, Prof. Dr. Markus Seeger
Organizations with an Antibiotics agenda
CARB-X accelerator Basel, Dr. Malcolm Page
BaselArea.swiss, Dr. Ralf Dümpelmann
SNSF NRP72 program, Prof. Dr. Joachim Frey, Stéphane Praz
NCCR Antiresist, Prof. Dr. Christoph Dehio
Swiss Biotech Association (SBA), Michael Altorfer
How to become partner
Please contact Prof. Dr. Markus Seeger.
3. Events
Upcoming events
23. Sep 2021, 15.00 - 17.30
Extended Stakeholder Meeting - NRP72
Upon invitation - please contact Prof. Dr. Markus Seeger.
24. June 2021, 9.00 - 16.00
Promoting Innovative Antibiotic R & D in Switzerland
Online event.
Past events
12.-13. March 2020
4th AMR Conference 2020: Novel Antimicrobials & AMR Diagnostics
Congress Center Basel | Switzerland
10. September 2019
Platform meeting at BioVersys, Basel.
12. September 2018 (afternoon)
Antibiotics brought by NTN SwissBiotech
Innovation Forum at BASEL LIFE 2018
26. April 2018
Aiming for novel antibiotic approaches: Challenges, new technologies and potential collaborations.
Innovation Event organized by BaselArea.Swiss
14. November 2017
Platform meeting at Vetsuisse Faculty, Bern.
16. October 2017
NTN Swiss Biotech Antibiotics Workshop, Bern.
Organized by the Swiss Biotech Association.
20. June 2016
Platform meeting at Polyphor, Allschwil.
18. November 2015
Olten Meeting 2015. Antibiotics and Bioprinting.
08. September 2015
Founding meeting of the Antibiotics Platform in Bern.
4. CTI-Projects of platform members
Clinical impact of Resistell's AST on treatment decisions in bacteremia and sepsis and method validation for new indications.
Resistell in collaboration with Prof. Gilbert Greub
Swissbodies for antibiotics drug discovery.
leadXpro in collaboration with Prof. Markus Seeger
Development of early lead-like molecules targeting a bacterial transcriptional regulator to treat infections caused by the Gram-negative pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii.
BioVersys in collaboration with Dr. Richard Kammerer, PSI
5. Read more
