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Pfizer said on Thursday (June 1) data from late-stage trials showed its experimental combination of antibiotics was effective in treating deadly infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria. Deaths from antibiotic-resistant bacteria, also known as superbugs, have been on the rise globally, and health regulators have called for the development of newer treatments as resistance to older antibiotics grows. The late-stage studies compared the experimental combination of the antibiotics aztreonam-avibactam (ATM-AVI) and existing generic drug metronidazole with a combination of two older antibiotics - meropenem and colistin - to treat complicated intra-abdominal infections and types of hospital-acquired pneumonia. Hospital-acquired pneumonia occurs in patients at least two to three days after being admitted, or in those who have life-threatening lung infections with high mortality rates and who are on mechanical breathing machines. Pfizer said the data from the studies shows the antibiotic combination of ATM-AVI is effective and well-tolerated in treating infections caused by gram-negative bacteria. The cure rate in patients with complicated intra-abdominal infections with Pfizer's combination therapy, along with existing generic drug metronidazole, was 76.4%, versus 74% using the other antibiotics.

The NHS has launched plans to expand pioneering subscription-style drug contracts to develop lifesaving antibiotics of the future. It is building on its world-first pilot to incentivise the pharmaceutical industry to develop new antibiotics that could be offered to NHS patients when they need them the most. The consultation has launched almost a year to the day that contracts for two superbug-busting drugs were rolled out as part of a world-first pilot. Cefiderocol and ceftazidime-avibactam, new antibiotics manufactured by Shionogi and Pfizer respectively, were awarded world-first subscription contracts which provided the companies with a fixed annual fee based primarily on the availability of the drugs and their value to the NHS, as opposed to the volumes used. By breaking the link between the payments companies receive and the number of their antibiotics prescribed, the NHS is removing any incentive to overuse antibiotics, decreasing the risk of life-threatening infections, such as sepsis and pneumonia, becoming resistant to treatment.

BioNTech and Pfizer are to start tests on humans of next-generation vaccines that protect against a wide variety of coronaviruses in the second half of the year. Their experimental work on shots that go beyond the current approach include T-cell-enhancing shots, designed to primarily protect against severe disease if the virus becomes more dangerous, and pan-coronavirus shots that protect against the broader family of viruses and its mutations. In presentation slides posted on BioNTech's website for its investor day, the German biotech firm said its aim was to "provide durable variant protection". The two companies are currently discussing with regulators enhanced versions of their established shot to better protect against the Omicron variant and its sublineages. The virus' persistent mutation into new variants that more easily evade vaccine protection, as well as waning human immune memory, have added urgency to the search by companies, governments and health bodies for more reliable tools of protection. As part of a push to further boost its infectious disease business, BioNTech said it was independently working on precision antibiotics that kill superbugs that have grown resistant to currently available anti-infectives.

The NHS has signed the first-of-its-kind subscription deal for two antimicrobial drugs - cefiderocol and ceftazidime-avibactam, manufactured by Shionogi and Pfizer respectively - that will help around 1700 patients per year with severe bacterial infections. Under this deal, pharmaceutical firms will receive a fixed yearly fee - capped at a level that represents value to taxpayers - in order to incentivise funding for innovation that can generate a pipeline of new antibiotics for NHS patients. NHS said the deal will help patients with serious infections that have evolved so much that antibiotics and other current treatments are no longer effective can be given a potentially life-saving alternative. The drugs will provide a lifeline to patients with life-threatening infections like sepsis, hospital or ventilator pneumonia and blood stream infection. Announcing the deal at NHS ConfedExpo, NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard called the revolutionary subscription deal a game-changer and the latest NHS success in using its commercial power to benefit NHS patients in line with the NHS Long Term Plan. "Superbug-busting drugs on the NHS will save lives and strike a blow in the global battle against antimicrobial resistance," Pritchard said.