Over €5 million for Innovative Therapy Against Hospital Germs - GO-Bio Next Funding for Cologne Research Team

INNOPAK is receiving support in the first funding round of the new GO-Bio Next program from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The ministry is providing €5.37 million for Phase I funding.

Thanks to advance funding, the project's total funding rises to over €8.5 million — a significant success for translational infection research at the Center for Clinical Infectious Diseases at the University Hospital of Cologne. The center is headed by Prof. Dr. Dr. Jan Rybniker, Executive Board Member at the Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC). The researchers benefit from their affiliation with the interdisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases (CIM) at the university hospital.

Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest medical challenges of our time. Infections with multidrug-resistant pathogens increasingly lead to severe disease progression, prolonged hospital stays, and rising mortality rates. The need for innovative therapeutic approaches is particularly evident in immunocompromised patients and those with pre-existing conditions.

Antibody-based therapeutics are a promising alternative to traditional antibiotics. These therapeutics specifically target bacterial disease mechanisms without damaging the natural microbiota. They are highly specific, remain in the bloodstream for a long time, and have few side effects. These properties make them ideal for acute therapy and preventive use in high-risk patients.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a significant pathogen with widespread antibiotic resistance. This bacterium causes difficult-to-treat pneumonia and bloodstream infections in hospitalized patients, as well as long-lasting infections in patients with chronic lung diseases, such as cystic fibrosis. These infections significantly impair lung function and quality of life.

To address this medical challenge, Prof. Rybniker and Dr. Alexander Simonis, Junior Research Group leader at the CMMC,are leading a team that is developing fully human precision antibodies to specifically neutralize the type III secretion system (T3SS). This bacterial target structure kills human immune cells. Blocking it with antibodies greatly weakens the pathogen's ability to cause disease.

The planned use of these antibodies follows the anti-virulence therapy concept, which aims to inhibit a pathogen's pathogenic effects. This approach is independent of classic antibiotic resistance mechanisms and could provide a much-needed therapeutic alternative, particularly for infections involving antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

GO-Bio Next funding will enable GMP-compliant production of the antibody and preparation of a Phase I clinical trial. This will significantly advance the development of novel, antibiotic-independent therapeutics against resistant hospital germs.

Who are Jan Rybniker and Alexander Simons? - Learn more about the researchers here. 

This message has been modified by the CMMC (K. Heber & D. Grosskopf-Kroiher) and is based on the text by the press and communications team of the University Hospital Cologne (original German version here).