Challenge
Antimicrobial resistant pathogens are one of the biggest global health threats faced by society. A growing list of infections are becoming harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat as antibiotics become less and less effective. Drug-resistant diseases already kill around 700,000 people each year, and it is estimated that this could swell to 10 million by 2050 if no action is taken. That is even more than the number of people that die from cancer every year worldwide.
Opportunity
New antimicrobial compounds, primarily antibiotics to date, are kept tightly regulated as “last-line” choices only for multi-drug resistant infections. This means that companies cannot make a profit or even securely make back their investment with novel antimicrobials. This field is widely regarded as suffering from a “broken” business model. Therefore there is only little innovation in antimicrobial compounds.
Solution
AMResolute develops multiple antimicrobial compounds in parallel, tapping into NLC’s extensive network of inventors to bring new, innovative assets into the company. This allows AMResolute to de-risk individual assets and pool the resources needed for all projects.
Currently AMResolute develops unrelated compounds against three different bacterial pathogens, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus, all of which are on the WHO’s list of “bacteria for which new antibiotics are urgently needed”.
Status
All three antimicrobial compounds are currently in hit-to-lead stage preclinical development. It is expected is that the first compound could be ready for market introduction by 2029 – 2030.
Meet the team
Evert Küppers
CEO
Kathrin Ballesteros
Venture Partner
Kathrin joined NLC in October 2021. She has more than 15 years of experience supporting Startups – mainly in the Life Science business – in different positions as a consultant and coach. Kathrin is a biochemist and holds a PhD in Molecular Neuroscience. Besides her scientific background, she is also trained as a Business Coach, Team Coach & Team Developer and has a Micro master’s in Business Model Innovation. Kathrin brings expertise in supporting early-stage scientific and entrepreneurial projects turning into valuable businesses.