Motif Bio Plc (LON:MFTB) – It is hard to exaggerate the crisis looming in antibiotics. The World Health Organisation has warned of a potentially apocalyptic nightmare
just around the corner, when common infections and minor scratches routinely become fatal. Quite blatantly, the WHO states that the growing ineffectiveness of mainstream antibiotics against new superbugs now poses a calamity bigger and more urgent that the AIDs epidemic of the 1980s. Simply put, the way the drugs have been used, and abused, for past decades now means doctors could lose their ability to protect human health unless urgent action is taken.
In the absence of any new types of antibiotic having been developed over the past 30 years, a high profile UK- government appointed review team, headed by economist Jim O’Neill, is now urging the global pharmaceutical industry to establish a US$2bn research and innovation fund to seek an urgent solution.
Yet drowned out by all the noise, a novel development by AIM-quoted Motif Bio appears to be delivering exactly this prescription. Importantly, its flagship late-stage antibiotic, Iclaprim, targets an underutilised mechanism of action making it less susceptible to triggering antibiotic resistance. Having already been tested on over one thousand patients, providing considerable evidence to support its safety and efficacy, Iclaprim has now commenced phase 3 trials for two initial indications, with a pipeline of further developments to follow.
Clearly Iclaprim can never be the one-off complete platform solution to the problem, but it looks to be one important step for a global population running out of choices. Addressing a market that appears set to grow significantly from the current US$40bn of annual sales, commercial interest in antibiotics has, not surprisingly, taken off. With its immediate needs sufficiently financed, Motif can be expected to demand Big Pharma rewards shareholders handsomely for a slice of its action. Speculative Buy. (BG)
