AUMED, a.s. received support for the development of a vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus

AUMED received support for the project “Development of a new vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus”, registration number CZ.01.01.01/01/22_002/0000585.

Staphylococcus aureus causes a wide range of diseases from skin infections to life-threatening invasive diseases such as bacteremia, endocarditis, pneumonia, surgical site infections, osteomyelitis and secondary nosocomial staphylococcal infections that occur mainly in intensive care units (MRSA, burns, surgical departments, immunodeficient patients, patients with implants, etc.).

The bacterium S. aureus is one of 12 designated by the World Health Organization as a “priority pathogen” – meaning investment in new drugs is urgently needed – because it is increasingly resistant to antibiotics. With antibiotic resistance increasing dramatically, there is an intensive search for alternative treatments to antibiotic procedures on several levels. One level is the use of bacteriophages for the treatment of staphylococcal attacks or the possibility of using microbial genetic mutations.

Appropriate vaccination can be a real solution to this socially serious problem. However, developing a vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus is proving to be significantly more challenging than expected. So far, the traditional technique using surface antigens (capsular conjugates or protein) has been ineffective. The idea of a Czech vaccine against staphylococci is not entirely new. The vaccine with the trademark Polystafana already existed historically, was recently used and confirmed the reality of expectations. However, its production technology and forms of control did not meet the current legislative requirements and GMP (good manufacturing practice in pharmacy) requirements for the production of vaccines, therefore its production, registration and clinical use completely disappeared.

The aim of the project is the development of a vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus based on exogenous toxoids, as an effective component of the drug. The prepared vaccine does not use either cell antigens or cell wall proteins or a live attenuated microorganism, i.e. the usually preferred antigenic bases present in other vaccines developed against staphylococci, as antigenic components to induce a protective effect. In the procedure proposed by the project, the vaccine is innovative.

The project will receive financial support from the EU within the Operational Program Technologies and Applications for Competitiveness, Challenges Applications – Challenge I.