Catharina Svanborg
Chairman of the board, Hamlet BioPharma AB and Professor at Lund University
With inputs from colleagues:
Martin Erixon, Jakob Testad, Sid Chinchankar, Björn Wullt, Ines Ambite, Hien Tran
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing danger — one that is made worse by the constant over-prescribing and misuse of antibiotics. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared AMR to be one of the ‘biggest threats to global health, food security and development today’ and has highlighted the need to combat it with novel solutions.
Immunotherapy can successfully treat urinary tract infections in mice. If the same results are found in humans, it could be useful in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.
Exploring immunotherapy for bacterial infections
Sweden-based Hamlet BioPharma is investigating alternative ways of treating bacterial infections by strengthening an individual’s antibacterial defence with immunotherapy, thus bypassing the need for antibiotic use.
Take urinary tract infections (UTIs), which are among the most prevalent infectious diseases globally and include acute cystitis, which affects around 50% of all women during their lifetime. Hamlet has now identified that the registered drug anakinra (IL1-RA) is an effective treatment for acute cystitis in mice — and hopes that it will also prove efficacious in humans.
Immunotherapy can successfully
treat urinary tract infections in mice.
Hoping for success in an ongoing human trial
“We have used this treatment in mice with urinary tract infections and know that it works,” says Ines Ambite. “The inflammatory response to infection of the mice’s IL-1 gene was controlled by the IL-1RA drug, which also increased bacterial clearance from their bladders and kidneys.” Immunotherapy was also effective against infections in mice caused by antibiotic-sensitive or antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains.
The results show that these types of infections can be treated with therapies other than antibiotics — an important conceptual advance and one that could be of huge importance in the fight against AMR. “A trial is now ongoing to test the efficacy of IL1-RA in humans with urinary tract infections,” notes Martin Erixon, CEO of Hamlet BioPharma. “The results should be known later this year.”
Using state-of-the-art techniques to analyse treatment effects
“As a company collaborating with the university, we gain access to sophisticated, state-of-the-art techniques to analyse various treatment effects and draw conclusions,” says Martin Erixon, CEO of Hamlet BioPharma. Collaboration with the scientists at Lund University is essential for the successful development of the project.”
