Helperby has discovered a new series of potent, fast-acting antibiotics that induce lower levels of resistance.
These remarkable results are thanks to a unique new drug discovery platform. Instead of targeting multiplying bacteria, our approach focuses on non-multiplying, dormant bacteria. Multiplying bacteria are like the leaves of a weed, while non-multiplying bacteria are like its root. Developing antibiotics that specifically target these root-like bacteria has never been done before; indeed, conventional methods of screening have consistently missed these promising candidate drugs. The result of Helperby’s innovation is a unique, patented approach that we have found to be extraordinarily effective.
This is perhaps the most important innovation in the discovery of new antibiotics since Alexander Fleming’s original breakthrough over 80 years ago. Our work is all the more important because increased resistance means existing antibiotics are becoming less effective at a faster rate than new antibiotics are being discovered. Today only two new antibiotics are in Phase III human clinical trials, one of which is Helperby’s HT61, an outstanding new drug that is active against Staphylococcus aureus including MRSA. A number of other drugs are also in pre-clinical development, and we have identified more than 300 other promising candidates.
> Read more about the Helperby pipeline
> The team behind the discoveries