NAS-AMP

The antimicrobial resistance-related costs to the global health care system are estimated at >10 billion Euro per
year. The economic impact is expected to exponentially rise if antimicrobial resistance is not tackled. Infections with MRSA in hospitals, and in particularly Intensive Care Units (ICU) settings, are very serious in terms of the patient’s health, risk of spreading to other patients and the costs of managing and eliminating the infection. The aim of this project is to develop a nasal therapy with antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) to eradicate MRSA carriage. The synthetic AMPs that were previously developed by Madam Therapeutics (Madam) and Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) have shown to be fully effective against antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. In collaboration with Madam and LUMC, SiSaf Ltd in Northern Ireland will undertake specialist nanoparticle drug formulation with its patented technology platform for the active AMPs in the project and will include collaboration with the University of Liverpool in relation to microbiology studies and ToxiCoop Pharmacology services in Hungary. The project title is “Development of a novel nasal therapy containing antimicrobial peptides to treat MRSA carriage” and it is funded under the EU EUROSTARS programme for academic and industrial research collaboration. EUROSTARS is a joint programme between EUREKA and the European Commission, co-funded from the national budgets of 34 Eurostars Participating States and Partner Countries and by the European Union through Horizon 2020. The UK partner funding is through Innovate UK.