Oxford drug development secures funding to combat cystic fibrosis lung infections

£3 million programme to accelerate new antimicrobial treatments

Oxford Drug Design has been awarded a share in a £3 million Collaborative Discovery Programme (CDP) by the Cystic Fibrosis Antimicrobial Resistance (CF AMR) Syndicate. This initiative, funded by the not-for-profit medical research organisation LifeArc, aims to accelerate the development of new treatments for lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis (CF).

The program will support six early-stage antimicrobial projects over the next two years.

Oxford Drug Design, a biotechnology company that uses computational AI to discover novel therapeutics, has received £466,000 to develop new treatments for bacterial infections in CF patients.

Dr. Paul Finn, Chief Scientific Officer of Oxford Drug Design, expressed his enthusiasm: “We are delighted to have been awarded the CF AMR Syndicate Collaborative Drug Discovery Programme. We will expand our antibacterial research efforts into this new area of ​​high medical need and advance the programme using our proprietary computational and GenAI platform.”

The 18-month project is being carried out in collaboration with Professor Jo Fothergill of the University of Liverpool and builds on Oxford Drug Design's previous work to identify drugs to treat multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. These drugs will serve as the basis for developing treatments specifically tailored to CF patients.

Dr Paula Sommer, Head of Research at the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, highlighted the importance of this initiative: “In people with CF, lung infections can cause breathlessness and difficulty breathing. They can also cause significant disruption to everyday life, meaning people may miss work or school. Lung infections are difficult to treat due to antimicrobial resistance, so we are delighted that the CF AMR Syndicate is supporting these projects that will develop new antimicrobial treatments for CF.”

The CF AMR Syndicate program also provides support from experts from all fields, including drug discovery, academia, clinical practice, and individuals with CF themselves.

The aim of this collaboration is to meet the urgent need for new therapies to improve the quality of life of people affected by CF.