A tuberculosis (TB) drug discovery project led by
academics from the School of Biological Sciences at the
University of Auckland is the first from the University to
be selected for a prestigious Japanese public-private
partnership (PPP) investment to fight infectious diseases,
such as malaria, TB, and neglected tropical
The Global Health Innovative
Technology (GHIT) Fund recently announced its latest JPY 1.4
billion (USD 10.1 million) investment focused on five
R&D projects for the development of diagnostics,
vaccines, and drugs for TB and malaria.
TB remains one
of the world鈥檚 most devastating infectious diseases,
affecting over 10 million people and causing more than 1.2
million deaths annually. In poorer countries, over 3 million
people go undiagnosed each year due to the lack of suitable,
accessible diagnostic tools鈥攑articularly at the point of
first contact with the healthcare system.
TB continues
to occur in New Zealand with approximately 300 cases
diagnosed each year.
Of the five projects,
Harnessing genome mining for novel tuberculosis
antibiotics will be led by Associate Professor Ghader
Bashiri, from the School of Biological Sciences in the
University鈥檚 Faculty of Science. Associate Professor
Bashiri and his team, alongside Professor Ikuro Abe at the
University of Tokyo and Dr Matthew McNeil from the
University of Otago, aim to research new drugs to tackle TB
by identifying cryptic secondary metabolites that
specifically target essential metabolic pathways in the
bacterium that causes TB. Secondary metabolites are small
molecules that confer a survival advantage to the producing
organisms and often exhibit diverse biological properties,
such as antimicrobial activity.
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Professor Bashiri says he is looking forward to the project
over the next two years. 鈥淚t is an honour and privilege to
be part of this project. TB remains the world’s leading
cause of death from a single infectious agent. Early
identification and testing of specific secondary metabolites
against our targets using human infection models will
provide critical insights into their efficacy and potential
as new treatments for TB.鈥
this project focuses on the development of new TB
treatments, it has potential spillover effects on malaria,
offering new opportunities for developing effective
treatments against some of the world鈥檚 deadliest
Despite significant advances, developing
new antibiotics for TB remains a major challenge as drugs
often have limited effect against the infection and serious
side effects. Development of drug resistance is a major
issue. To overcome this, the project team will (a) identify
secondary metabolites that specifically target key metabolic
pathways in TB, and (b) test these metabolites against
target proteins, bacterial cultures, and infections models
to assess their effects on bacterial growth and
pathogenesis.
This approach offers a unique
target for developing safe treatments with new mechanisms of
action against TB, with the promise of identifying new
generations of antibiotics against TB that can overcome the
limitations of existing treatments, such as resistance, side
effects, and challenges maintaining patient engagement with
The project team already has established
expertise and drug development experience for TB, which will
be instrumental in advancing subsequent research and
development phases. Long-term, the goal is to create safer
and more effective treatment options for TB patients
The GHIT fund was identified as a pathway
to funding for our TB drug pipeline by the UniServices
Strategic Growth team who, with the assistance of NZTE
Japan, built a relationship with the funder over the past
couple of years. This helped to understand GHIT鈥檚 funding
priorities and help the researchers to align their project
for a successful
application.
漏 Scoop Media